UBRARi 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

^      SAN  DIEGO 


J 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 

Tom  Ham 


3vERS.TY0FCAUF0RNIAjfAN 


'^"  1822  02656  9194 


«« 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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c — 


(  (iiifcdcrale  Mciimiial,  Nasin  illo.  'Jciiii. 


THE  CIVIL  V/AR 


FROM  A  SOUTHERN  STAND-POINT. 


BY  MRS.  ANN   E.  SNYDER, 

Nashville,  Tenn. 


We  wore  ourselves  out  whipping  the  enemy."— General  Cobb. 


printed  for  the  attthor. 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South. 

j.  d.  barbee,  agent,  nashvrl-le,  tenn. 

1890. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18!H), 

By  Mrs,  Ann  E.  Snydek, 
in  tlie  Office  of  the  Librarinn  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


u 


DEDICATION. 

THE   AUTHOR  OF  THIS   BOOK    DEDICATES   IT 

To  CQvB.  ^affiet  CQaxixtell  OvePton, 

AS  A  SMALL  TESTIMONIAL  TO   HER  DEVOTION  TO  THE  CONFEDERATE 

CAUSE,  BOTH   IN   THE  STORMY  TIMES  OF  WAR  AND  IN 

THE  QUIETER  TIMES  OF  PEACE— 

A  DEVOTION  THAT  FOUKD  A  PRACTICAL  EXPRESSION 

IN  THE  AMELIORATION  OF  THE  SOLDIERS'  LIFE,  AND  IN  ASSISTING  THEM 

TO  MEND  THEIR  BROKEN  FORTUNES  AFTER  HAVING 

DONE  THEIR  DUTY  TO  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

(3) 


PREFACE. 

There  have  been  quite  a  number  of  histories  of  the  late  waV 
between  the  States,  both  from  a  Northern  and  from  a  Southern 
stand-point.  The  former  have  been  so  partisan  as  to  force  one 
to  believe  that  the  South  has  hardly  been  fairly  represented ; 
for  the  manner  in  which  the  Confederate  side  of  the  great  strug- 
gle is  discussed  in  the  common  school  hastories  eminating  from 
Northern  sources,  and  w^hich,  from  a  lack  of  something  better, 
are  necessarily  used  in  our  schools,  would  make  one  entirely 
dissatisfied  with  the  actions  of  the  Southern  people,  from  the 
\?ery  beginning  of  the  war  to  its  end.  But,  fortunately,  there  is 
another  side  to  the  question,  and  one,  too,  which  approaches 
nearer  to  the  truth,  and  it  is  this  side  which  the  author  of  this 
little  book  has  endeavored  to  give ;  and  in  doing  this  she  has 
used  freely  whatever  available  sources  were  at  hand,  condensing 
the  materials  as  much  as  possible,  so  as  to  bring  them  into  the 
compass  of  the  present  small  volume. 

The  objection  to  the  histories  that  have  been  written  from  a 
Southern  stand-point  is  that  they  are  usually  of  too  large  and 
bulky  a  character  for  the  general  reader,  and  as  a  result  one  is 
often  astonished  to  find  how  very  much  the  mass  of  our  people 
are  wanting  in  a  knowledge  of  the  glorious  contest  which  they 
made.  Moreover,  the  histories  just  referred  to  are  rather  per- 
sonal in  character,  in  that  they  are  attempts  to  explain  why  this 
or  that  battle  was  lost  or  won,  thus  introducing  much  recrimina- 
tion and  a  large  amount  of  useless  discussion.  In  the  present 
work  every  thing  of  this  nature  is  so  far  avoided  that  it  is  rather 
the  record  of  how  the  private  soldier  fought,  written  in  a  plain, 

(5) 


6  PREFACE. 

unvarnished  style.  Therefore,  with  the  earnest  hope  that  the 
book  may  prove  an  aid  in  recalling  to  the  minds  of  our  people 
how  grandly  and  nobly  those  brave  hearts  that  wore  the  gray 
struggled  through  four  long  years  for  their  cause,  in  behalf  of 
which  so  many  gave  their  lives,  the  author  sends  it  forth  into 
the  hands  of  the  public. 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  seems  proper  to  say  that  I  am  writing  this  introduction  on 
short  notice.  The  work  was  assigned  to  one  far  more  capable 
and  widely  known  than  myself,  who  lately  felt  compelled  to  de- 
cline the  service.  It  was  then  pressed  upon  me  by  the  author  and 
others  with  a  kindness  and  generosity  which  obliged  me,  though 
not  well  prepared,  to  accept,  and  to  discharge  the  duty  thus  im- 
posed as  best  I  could.  I  have  seen  it  stated  that  in  judging  of  a 
book  Goethe  was  accustomed  to  ask  three  questions :  "  What  does 
the  author  propose  to  do?  Is  what  he  proposes  worth  doing? 
How  has  he  done  it  ?  "  Let  us  try  to  keep  these  criteria  in  mind. 
As  the  effect  of  the  perusal  of  a  book  and  the  estimate  which 
the  reader  puts  upon  it  depend  so  much  upon  his  getting  and 
taking  with  him  a  right  view  of  the  design  of  the  author,  I  call 
special  attention  thereto.  That  design,  as  set  forth  by  the  writer 
of  this  volume  in  her  preface,  is  definite  and  restricted.  It  is  an 
eflFort  to  correct,  as  far  as  possible,  any  false  statements  which 
have  come  from  Northern  partisan  writers  placing  the  South 
under  severe  and  unjust  condemnation ;  and  believing  that  the 
masses  are  largely  ignorant  in  regard  to  the  war,  she  aims  also 
to  furnish  a  book  better  suited  to  the  general  reader,  and  espe- 
cially the  young,  than  any  now  before  the  public,  giving  much 
prominence  to  the  service  of  the  private  soldier,  who  deserves 
more  praise  than  is  usually  given  him,  "  as  houses,  cities,  States, 
and  institutions  of  all  kinds  among  men  have  always  owed  very 
much  more  to  men  whose  names  have  been  lost  than  to  those 
whose  names  have  been  preserved."  There  is  no  purpose  to 
displace  other  larger  and  more  exhaustive  works  which  treat  at 

(7) 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

great  length  and  with  ability  of  the  many  complex  military, 
civil,  and  social  problems  growing  out  of  the  war ;  but  it  is  a 
simple,  direct,  well-connected,  fair,  and  modest  statement  of  tiie 
Southern  side  of  the  conflict  by  an  earnest  Southern  woman,  an 
enthusiastic  lover  of  the  Confederate  cause,  who  relies  ujwn 
truth  as  its  defense. 

That  what  she  proposes  is  worth  doing  will,  I  think,  be  ad- 
mitted without  question.  It  is  said  that  "  history  is  philosophy 
teaching  by  example,"  and  its  chief  value  is  truth,  and  the  great- 
ness and  value  of  truth  is  its  helpfulness.  "  It  is  our  duty  not  to 
ridicule  the  affairs  of  men,  nor  deplore,  but  simply  to  understand 
them."  These  weighty  words  justify  every  effort  to  obtain  cor- 
rect history.  We  are  safe  in  saying  that  "  ignorance  allows  even 
great  souls — souls  grown  too  great  for  personal  selfishness — to 
find  relief  in  what  they  believe  unselfishness  even  in  national 
and  ecclesiactical  selfishness."  Could  we  learn  and  rightly  use 
the  lessons  of  history,  we  would  not  allow  the  vast  energies  of 
our  being  to  be  expended  along  narrow  lines  and  in  small  fields. 

To  aid  in  carrying  out  her  purposes  and  give  additional  inter- 
est to  the  volume,  the  author  has  secured  a  valuable  appendix, 
which  treats  of  the  following  subjects :  "  The  South  Justified," 
"  Religion  in  the  Southern  Army,"  and  "  The  Institution  of  Do- 
mestic Slavery  in  the  Southern  States."  These  are  carefully  pre- 
pared, and  the  last  two  are  full  of  interest  and  valuable  contri- 
butions to  liistory,  while  the  first  treats  of  what  is,  to  some  extent, 
a  living  issue,  for  although  tl^  war  has  shown  secession  to  be 
impracticable,  a  number  of  able  and  conservative  statesmen  and 
jurists  deny  that  this  proves  it  to  be  wrong,  and  who,  while  they 
have  no  wish  to  incite  to  its  exercise,  still  claim  that  it  is  justifi- 
able as  a  Constitutional  right.  From  the  very  origin  of  Ameri- 
can history  it  has  been  predicted  that  thtMo  wouM  be  a  union 
of  self-governing  States  covering  the  continent.    Even  with  a 


INTllODUCTION.  9 

homogeneous  population  in  the  beginning,  on  account  of  our 
various  climatic  and  other  influences,  the  problem  is  a  difficult 
one — namely,  the  formation  of  a  Government  "  elastic  enough  to 
s-uit  all  sections  and  strong  enough  to  hold  all  together  for  the 
needed  co-operation  and  progress."  Any  calm  and  wise  student 
of  our  history  must  see,  it  seems  to  me,  "  that  not  an  empire,  not 
an  autocracy,  not  a  limited  monarchy,  would  realize  this  great 
ideal,  but  States  united,  not  welded  but  fluent,  each  as  perfectly 
free  to  discharge  the  functions  of  statedom  by  securing  the  lib- 
erties and  promoting  the  progress  of  its  people  as  if  it  were  the 
only  State  on  the  globe,"  yet  bound  to  all  the  other  States,  the 
prosperity  of  the  whole  being  the  prosperity  of  each — States 
worthy  of  union  worthily  united.  In  perfecting  such  an  august 
consummation,  which  plainly  must  be  the  work  of  years,  it  is 
quite  easy  to  perceive,  to  borrow  a  beautiful  figure,  "  how  there 
might  be  many  who  could  see  more  clearly  the  value  of  tlie 
Union  than  that  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  how  there  might 
be  others  in  whose  eyes  the  union  of  States  would  be  to  the  lib- 
erty of  States  as  the  casket  is  to  the  crowned  jewel  it  contains, 
or  the  human  body  to  its  spiritual  inhabitant." 

As  to  how  well  the  author  has  succeeded  in  her  effort  the 
reader  must  decide,  and  to  do  so  fairly  he  should  keep  in  mind 
the  design  of  the  work  and  think  calmly  of  the  great  struggle 
and  what  may  be  the  final  outcome.  In  my  judgment,  all  who 
thus  act  must  go  beyond  the  pinched  patriotism  of  sectional  ani- 
mosities, and  while  deeply  deploring  the  war  with  its  sad  phys- 
ical and  sadder  moral  eflfects,  honor  the  heroic  effort  of  the 
South.  Although  the  work  is  intensely  Southern,  its  spirit  is 
excellent,  all  severity  being  carefully  avoided  by  the  author.  I 
bespeak  for  it  a  cordial  welcome  at  the  hands  of  a  generous 
public.  R.  LiN.  Cave. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  March  26, 1890. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

The  Causes 15 

The  Slavery  Question 17 

States'  Rights  and  Centralization 23 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Secession  of  the  States 27 

.  The  Confederacy  Established 29 

The  First  Gun 31 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation 33 

Battle  of  Bethel 36 

The  Confederates  Win  at  Manassas 40 

CHAPTER  III 
Affairs  in  Missouri 47 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Battle  op  Cheat  Mountain 51 

Cumberland  Grap 54 

CHAPTER  V. 
Affairs  in  Kentucky 57 

General  Polk  Attacked  by  the  Federals 58 

Death  of  General  Zollicoffer 61 

CHAPTER  VL 

Fort  Donelson — Permanent  Organization 64 

The  Battle  of  Fort  Donelson 64 

The  Confederates  Evacuate  Nashville 67 

A  Permanent  Organization 68 

CHAPTER  VII 

Affairs  on  the  Water 69 

A  Confederate  Naval  Victory  at  Hampton  Roads 69 

(10) 


CONTENTS.  II 

CHAPTER  VIIL  p^e^ 

Generals  Van  Dorn  and  Sibley  in  the  West 73 

Battle  of  Elk  Horn 74 

In  the  Far  West 75 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Island  No.  Ten — Shiloh — New  Orleans 77 

The  Great  Battle  of  Shiloh 78 

Fall  of  New  Orleans 82 

CHAPTER  X. 

Gallant  Defense  op  Kichmond 84 

Kemstown — Jackson  Repulsed 85 

Jackson's  Successes  in  the  Valley 85 

Jackson  Defeats  the  Federals  at  Port  Republic 87 

Activities  on  the  Chickahominy 89 

Mechanicsville — ^Malvern  Hill 90 

CHAPTER  XL 

A  Series  of  Important  Events 94 

The  Battle  of  Boonsboro 103 

Surrender  of  Harper's  Ferry 104 

Battle  of  Sharpsburg 105 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Movements  in  the  West  Again 109 

Battle  of  Perryville,  October  8 113 

In  the  South-west 115 

Battle  of  Corinth 117 

Guerrilla  Warfare  in  Missouri 119 

CHAPTER  Xni. 

Campaign  in  Northern  Virginia 121 

General  Hindman's  Success  in  Arkansas 125 

Cavalry  Exploits 126 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Murfreesboro — Galveston — Arkansas 128 

Capture  of  Galveston 133 

Surrender  of  Arkansas  Post 134 

Confederate  Rams  Attack  the  Federals  in  Charleston  Har- 
bor   135 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XV.  PACE 

Impressment— Batteries  and  Gun-boats 137 

Federals  Attack  Fort  McAllister 138 

The  Federals  in  Front  of  Vicksburg 138 

Che  Federals  Repulsed  from  Charleston 141 

CHAPTER  XVL 

Chancellorsville— Vicksburg — Gettysburg 143 

Death  of  General  Jackson 147 

Loss  of  Vicksburg 148 

Invasion  of  Pennsylvania 149 

Battle  of  Gettysburg 150 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Siege  op  Charleston — Morgan's  Raid 154 

Greneral  Morgan's  Raid 158 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Chickamauga — Martial  Law  in  Kentucky 162 

Battle  of  Chickamauga 163 

Martial  Law  in  Kentucky 167 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Rappahannock — Missionary  Ridge 170 

Skirmishes  on  the  Rappahannock 170 

Missionary  Ridge 174 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Minor  Operations  in  the  West 180 

Virginia  and  Tennessee  Border 181 

Lincoln's  "  Peace  Proclamation  " 183 

Attack  upon  New  Berne,  N.  C 186 

Battle  of  Ocean  Pond 187 

CHAPTER  XXL 

Invasion  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama 189 

Legal  Enactments 191 

Federal  Cavalry  Raids 192 

Federal  Expeditions  from  New  Orleans  and  Vicksburg. . .  193 

General  Forrest  in  Kentucky 19o 

Confederates  Retake  Plymouth,  N.  C 196 


CONTENTS.  13 

CHAPTER  XXII.  PAGE 

In  Virginia  Again 198 

Cold  Harbor 203 

The  Western  Part  of  Virginia 204 

Attack  upon  Petersburg 205 

Other  Reverses  of  the  Enemy 206 

The  Loss  of  the  "Alabama  " 207 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

General  Sherman  in  the  South 209 

General  Forrest  at  Guntown 213 

General  Early's  Raid 213 

General  John  Morgan  Invades  Kentucky 215 

General  Price  in  Missouri 215 

The  "  Peace  "  Question 216 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Naval  Operations — General  Grant  in  Virginia 220 

Destruction  of  the  "  Florida  "  and  "Albemarle  " 221 

The  Attempts  upon  Richmond 221 

Sheridan's  Raid  in  the  Valley 224 

.  Battle  of  Cedar  Creek ' 225 

General  Breckinridge  in  East  Tennessee 227 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Operations  op  Generals  Sherman  and  Hood 228 

Battle  of  Nashville 230 

General  Sherman's  March 231 

Attempts  upon  Wilmington 232 

Fall  of  Charleston  and  Columbia 234. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  End 237 

Peace  Conference 238 

Closing  Conflicts 239 

The  Surrender 241 

General  Order  No.  9 -. 243 


14  CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX.  FACT. 

The  South  Justified 245 

Religion  in  the  Southern  Akmy 271 

Prison  Service 295 

The  Institution  op  Domestic  Slavery  in  the  Southern 
States 304 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Confederate  Memorial,  Nashville,  Tenn Frontispiece. 

Fort  Sumter  in  1861 30 

Battle  between  the  "  Monitor"  and  the  "  Merrimac" 72 

Destruction  op  Cotton  at  the  Taking  op  New  Orleans.  . .     83 

Harper's  Ferry 104 

Destruction   of   the   "Hatteras"  by   the   Confederate 

Steamer,  "Alabama,"  Admiral  Semmes  Commanding 13G 

General  Lee  before  the  ''  Battle  of  the  Wilderness" 200 

The  "Sumter"  Running  the  Blockade,  and  Chased  by 

the  Federal  Ship,  "  Iroquois  " 220 

Colonel  John  Overton's  Residence,  General  Hood's  Head- 
quarters AT  THE  Battle  op  Nashville 230 

Mr.  Wilmer  McLean's  Residence,  Where   General  Lee 
Surrendered 242 


THE  CIVIL  yvAn 

FROM  A  SOUTHERN  STAND-POINT. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Causes. 

FROM  the  very  character  of  the  people  that  settled 
what  is  known  as  the  Northern  or,  more  strictly, 
the  New  England  States,  and  those  that  settled  in  the 
Southern  section  of  the  country,  one  can  easily  see 
that  in  the  course  of  the  peculiar  development  of 
each^  natural  and  distinct  lines  of  difference  will  be 
the  result.  Consequently,  in  the  narration  of  the 
momentous  struggle  of  the  eventful  years  from  1860 
to  1865,  it  is  eminently  proper  to  briefly  outline  the 
causes  that  led  up  to  it,  going  back  to  colonial  days, 
to  explain  the  heated  antagonism  that  fell  like  the 
burst  of  a  storm-cloud  upon  the  country. 

The  emigrants  that  settled  the  New  England  States 
were,  for  the  most  part,  religious  malcontents.  The 
memory  of  Marston  Moor  and  Cromwell  was  still 
fresh,  and  the  royal  head  of  Charles  rolling  from  the 
block  was  not  the  act  of  a  distant  past,  but  was  close 

enough   in  time  to  be  a   reality.     The  restoration 

(15) 


16  THE   CIVIL  WAE. 

came,  and  with  it  the  Puritan  thought  he  saw  all 
the  results  of  his  hard-fought  victories  swept  away. 
Next  to  that  personal  devil  which  ever  accompanied 
and  contested  with  him  in  every  good  resolution,  this 
Puritan  hated  the  house  of  Stuart  and  all  the  nobles 
that  took  their  stand  by  its  fortunes.  Consequently, 
after  having  emigrated  from  the  mother  country, 
these  feelings  became  more  intense  in  character.  In 
their  new  home,  the  foundations  of  which  were  laid 
from  the  persecutions  which  produced  the  civil  war 
in  England,  they  began  to  construct  a  civilization 
peculiarly  their  own — a  civilization  which  was  a 
strange  compound  of  persecution  and  bigotry.  The 
exiles  that  had  been  made  homeless  by  persecution 
and  intolerance  in  turn  sent  to  the  mercies  of  the 
pitiless  savage  whoever  might  differ  with  them  in 
religion  or  opinion.  Forgetful  of  their  own  unhap- 
py past,  they  became  the  very  incarnation  of  those 
very  qualities  which  had  made  England  to  them  an 
unkind  step-mother.  The  district  that  they  had  set- 
tled in  was  barren  and  rocky.  Much  labor  and  care 
were  necessary  to  get  from  the  apparently  unwillilig 
soil  its  products  and  fruits.  Consequently  agricult- 
ure  was  followed  only  as  a  matter  of  necessity.  This 
encouraged  the  growth  of  cities  and  city  life,  which 
thrived  marvelously  as  time  passed  on. 

Turning  now  to  those  colonies  of  the  South,  histo- 
ry shows  a  civilization  founded  and  developed  purely 


THE  CAUSES.  17 

imitative  in  character,  differing  in  every  essential 
feature  from  that  developed  at  the  North.  These 
emigrants  were  neither  political  nor  religious  refu- 
gees, but  they  were  rather  acting  under  the  impulse 
of  a  venturesome  age  that  made  them  leave  their  isl- 
and home  and  seek  the  El  Dorado  of  the  new  world. 
Nor  were  they  all  English.  The  Huguenots  came 
over.  Those  who  had  followed  the  white  plume  of 
good  Henry  of  Navarre  united  their  race  and  lineage 
with  the  descendants  of  the  victors  of  Cressy  and 
Poitiers.  Here  was  a  commingling  of  royal  blood. 
The  soil  of  this  new  country  was  fair  and  fertile  be- 
yond compare.  Consequently  the  greatest  induce- 
ments were  held  out  to  the  agriculturist,  and,  as  a 
natural  result,  city  life  was  discouraged  and  the 
growth  of  large  plantations  inevitable. 

The  Slavery  Question. 

Into  both  sections — thus  begun,  indeed,  under  the 
same  circumstances,  but  differing  widely  both  as  to 
the  character  of  the  people  who  settled  them  and  the 
nature  of  the  civilizations  that  must  necessarily  fol- 
low—  negro  slavery  was  introduced,  that  system 
which  was  one  day  to  kindle  a  fire  which  would  light 
the  world  with  its  awful  glare. 

The  slave  is  never  a  profit  to  his  owner  save  in  ag- 
ricultural pursuits.  Therefore  in  the  New  England 
States  he  was  very  soon  found  to  be  out  of  place  and 


18  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

a  loss  to  his  owner,  Vhile  at  the  South  he  became  a 
very  necessary  and  essential  feature  of  the  farm  and 
the  plantation.  Being  in  demand,  the  people  of  the 
New  England  States  found  no  difficulty  in  disposing 
of  the  slaves  in  their  possession  at  a  fair  price  to  the 
large  plantation-owners  at  the  South.  But  so  soon 
as  they  were  rid  of  this  apparently  useless  feature  of 
their  civilization  it  was  discovered  that  slavery  is  a 
curse  and  slave-holding  a  crime,  and  therefore  the 
logical  conclusion  to  one  admitting  the  major  prem- 
ise was,  that  all  Southern  people  were  criminals  in 
the  sight  of  Heaven. 

From  the  nature  of  the  two  sections,  as  already 
outlined,  one  can  see  that  a  cause,  however  slight, 
may  beget  an  antagonism  which  will  grow  in  inten- 
sity as  the  years  go  by,  until,  finally,  to  natural  divis- 
ions and  distinctions  artificial  ones  will  be  added. 
Among  the  latter  differences  the  question  of  slavery 
became  the  all-important  one;  and  one,  too,  that  at  a 
very  early  date  in  the  history  of  the  country  created 
more  bitter  and  more  intense  opposition  than  one 
would  expect  from  the  nature  of  the  question  alone. 

That  the  people  of  the  North  should  so  soon  be- 
come horrified  at  an  institution  which  they  them- 
selves once  countenanced,  and  should  allow  their 
opposition  to  it  to  assume  the  character  of  a  fanat- 
ical hatred,  would  indeed  be  a  very  problematical 
question  of  itself   alone;   but  when  one  remembers 


THE  CAUSES.  19 

the  innate  intolerance  of  the  people — narrow  and 
lacking  in  breadth  of  judgment  and  liberality  of  opin- 
ion, together  with  that  old  nature  nurtured  in  the 
mother  country  and  transplanted  to  American  soil, 
and  which  did  not  change  nor  alter  itself  with  its 
changed  surroundings  and  conditions — then  the  ques- 
tion is  no  longer  a  problem.  One  almost  feels  that 
the  battle  of  the  Cavalier  and  the  Roundhead  is  to 
be  fought  over  again.  This  American  Puritan  could 
not  appreciate  that  broad,  liberal,  free  civilization 
that  was  developing  at  the  South;  for  it  seemed  to  be 
rich  where  his  was  poor.  Its  prosperity  was  a  mar- 
vel and  a  wonder  to  him;  the  very  gladness  of  its 
life  contrasted  sharply  with  his  own,  which  a  narrow 
creed  had  settled  into  such  hard  places. 

Moreover,  the  natural  and  necessary  product  of  a 
noble  civilization  is  a  noble  and  a  princely  manhood. 
Consequently  the  slave-holding  States,  by  sheer  force 
of  a  superior  intellectuality,  dominated  the  National 
Government  and  affected  the  character  of  all  legisla- 
tion by  the  impress  of  their  masterly  minds.  The 
inevitable  effect  of  this  upon  the  North  was  to  create 
and  to  foster  that  feeling  of  jealousy  that  naturally 
existed,  to  add  fuel  to  the  fires  of  slavery  agitation, 
and  to  widen  sectional  lines. 

As  far  back  as  1787  controversies  arose  in  regard 
to  the  slavery  question,  and  the  convention  of  dele- 
gates from  the  New  England  States  which  met  at 


20  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1814,  though  ostensibly  called 
for  other  purposes,  really  owed  its  conception  to  a 
jealousy  of  the  political  power  of  the  slave-holding 
States.  Besides,  even  as  early  as  this  time,  there 
was  such  a  strong  under-current  of  hostility  at  the 
North  that  it  showed  itself  in  an  effort  to  prevent 
representation  in  Congress  from  the  South;  and 
threats  of  secession,  which  was  afterward  thought 
so  criminal  and  illegal  on  the  part  of  the  South,  were 
heard  from  that  section  which  had  for  its  w^ar-cry  the 
upholding  of  the  Constitution  and  the  preservation 
of  the  Federal  Union. 

In  1820  the  admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri 
furnished  a  cause  for  battle  between  the  discordant 
elements.  The  result  of  this  legislation  was  the  so- 
called  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  which,  while  it  pro- 
duced a  temporary  peace,  gave  sectional  divisions  and 
feelings  a  distinctness  and  definiteness  that  they  had 
never  had  before ;  for,  with  something  like  prophetic 
vision,  the  aged  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  to  a  friend 
in  regard  to  the  measure:  "  It  [the  question  of  slav- 
ery] sleeps,  but  is  not  dead.  A  geographical  line  co- 
inciding with  a  marked  principle,  moral  and  political, 
once  conceived  of  men,  will  not  be  obliterated;  every 
new  irritation  makes  it  deeper." 

With  this  new  dividing  line  making  matters  con- 
crete, so  to  speak,  where,  before,  they  were  abstract, 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  was  intensified 


THE  CAUSES.  21 

into  a  kind  of  religious  fanaticism  which  made  a  war 
on  the  South  necessary,  almost,  to  the  salvation  of 
one's  soul.  This  spirit  is  illustrated  in  the  remarks 
of  Dr.  Tyng,  a  prominent  minister  of  New  York  City, 
and  one,  too,  of  more  than  local  celebrity,  in  present- 
ing Bibles  to  certain  notorious  roughs  of  that  city, 
known  as  "  Billy  Wilson's  men."  Though  commend- 
ing to  them  the  Book  of  peace,  he  declared  that  in 
carrying  the  horrors  of  a  bitter  and  relentless  war 
into  the  Southern  States  they  were  propitiating  the 
favors  of  Heaven,  and  it  would  count  much  in  the  fi- 
nal salvation  of  their  souls.  That  this  question  be- 
came a  species  of  religious  fanaticism  is  shown  in 
the  spirit  of  the  ministers  of  the  Northern  Methodist 
Church,  which  finally  became  so  bitter  as  to  produce 
a  permanent  separation  into  two  distinct  bodies;  and 
in  the  character  of  that  famous  novel  by  Mrs.  Har- 
riet Beecher  Stowe,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  which, 
from  its  pathetic  coloring,  and  coming  just  at  a  time 
when  the  popular  mind  of  the  North  was  ready  to  re- 
ceive any  thing  which  might  represent  the  Southern 
people  as  criminals  and  barbarians,  exercised  a  tre- 
mendous influence.  And  this  same  influence  has  not 
lost  its  power  even  at  the  present  day;  for  the  leopard 
cannot  change  its  spots,  and  some  sections  of  the 
North  are  ever  ready  to  believe  that  old,  false  tale  of 
horrors  in  regard  to  the  South. 

Discussions,  resolutions,  debates,  and  abuse  took  a 


22  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

practical  shape  when  that  incarnation  of  rank  fanat- 
icism, John  Brown,  with  his  deluded  followers,  in- 
vaded the  soil  of  Virginia  with  the  purpose  of  inciting 
servile  insurrection  among  the  happy  and  contented 
slaves  of  that  old  Commonwealth.  This  demonstra- 
tion of  Brown  was  no  spasmodic,  abnormal  outbreak, 
but  rather  the  natural  outcome  of  that  spirit  at  the 
North  which  at  once  was  more  than  ready  to  sympa^ 
thize  with  his  movement,  and  to  declare  his  example 
worthy  of  emulatioii,  and  not  only  one  of  the  cliief- 
est  of  the  earthly  virtues,  but  also  a  service  to  God. 

The  certain  tendency  of  Northern  opinion  is  again 
shown  in  the  nomination  by  the  Republican  party 
for  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Hon.  John  Sherman, 
who  publicly  recommended  a  book  known  as  the 
"Helper  Book,"  which  advocated  a  murderous  up- 
rising of  the  slaves  at  the  South.  One  short  quota- 
tion will  be  sufficient  to  suggest  the  line  of  procedure 
to  which  this  leading  representative  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  had  committed  himself:  "Frown,  sir; 
fret,  foam,  prepare  your  weapons,  threaten,  strike, 
shoot,  stab,  bring  on  civil  war,  dissolve  the  Union; 
nay,  annihilate  the  solar  system,  do  what  you  will,  you 
can  neither  foil  nor  intimidate  us;  our  purpose  is 
fixed  as  the  pillars  of  the  eternal  heavens.  We  have 
determined  to  abolish  slavery,  and  so  help  us  God 
we  will ! "  These  utterances  in  the  calmness  of  the 
present  seem  rather  like  the  rabid  vaporings  of  in- 


THE  CAUSES.  23 

sanity  than  the  expressions  of  reason,  yet  the  book 
is  dearly  characteristic  of  that  frenzy  into  which  the 
North  had  worked  itself. 

States'  Eights  and  Centralization. 

"When  in  any  community  or  associations  of  men 
there  develop  certain  principles  and  opinions  that 
grow  and  increase  in  force  and  intensity  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  call  into  existence  two  distinct  divisions 
completely  discordant  and  out  of  harmony  with  each 
other,  so  that  the  peace  and  welfare  of  either  the  one 
or  the  other  is  threatened,  then  naturally  a  question 
of  permanent  separation  arises.  With  this  question 
there  also  arises  another  hardly  secondary  in  impor- 
tance— viz.,  as  to  the  character  of  the  original  con- 
tract into  which  they  entered,  its  terms  and  its  ob- 
ligations ;  whether  union  was  voluntary  or  otherwise, 
and  what  were  the  causes  that  led  to  it. 

The  causes  that  have  been  before  Numerated  pro- 
duced just  such  a  state  of  circumstances  in  the  United 
States.  Consequently  there  arose  two  very  widely 
divergent  interpretations  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, its  powers  and  its  limitations,  technically  called 
"  States'  rights  "  and  "  centralization."  The  former 
opinion  was  held  to  by  the  Southern  States,  and 
meant  that  each  individual  State  had  certain  rights 
and  privileges  which  were  not  surrendered  when  it 
went  into  a  voluntary  federation  or  league  with  the 


24  TPIE   CIVIL  WAR. 

other  States.  Ou  the  other  hand,  the  opposition, 
taking  as  their  motto  that  celebrated  saying  of  Aii- 
drew  Jackson,  "  The  Federal  Union  must  and  shall 
be  preserved,"  denied  to  the  individual  States  any 
rights  or  liberties  that  a  majority  might  not  take 
from  them  at  any  time  they  might  see  fit,  and  that  a 
strong,  centralized  government  might  inflict  any  laws 
or  prohibitions  in  regard  to  local  government,  how- 
ever odious  or  oppressive  to  the  people. 

The  sentiment  of  the  North  crystallized  about  this 
latter  opinion,  the  purpose  of  which  looked  clearly 
toward  the  abolishment  of  the  system  of  slavery  at 
the  South.  This  system  had  become  so  thoroughly 
inwrought  into  the  very  fiber  of  Southern  life  that 
the  abolishment  of  it  was  like  literally  tearing  a 
member  from  the  body.  It  also  constituted  a  prin- 
cipal portion  of  their  wealth  and  was  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  the  character  of  the  industry  carried  on 
at  the  Soiith.  Therefore,  with  the  certain  and  sure 
sweeping  away  of  the  vast  wealth  involved  in  the 
slave  staring  them  in  the  face,  together  with  a  sacred 
principle  at  stake  as  old  as  the  first  dream  of  human 
liberty — that  man  must  be  left  to  the  free  and  un- 
obstructed enjoyment  of  his  property  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness — the  Southern  statesmen,  as  represent- 
atives of  the  people,  began  to  see  that  they  must  have 
recourse  to  the  last  means  open  to  the  oppressed  — 
revolution.     In  this  case  revolution  meant  secession 


THE  CAUSES.  25 

on  the  part  of  the  South— a  peaceful  withdrawal 
from  the  compact  into  which  they  had  gone  volunta- 
rily, and  from  which  they  might  separate  whenever 
from  reasonable  causes  the  bond  became  irksome  or 
oppressive. 

In  the  beginning  the  original  colonies  formed  a 
defensive  and  offensive  alliance  in  the  war  against 
Great  Britain.  At  the  successful  termination  of  this 
war  this  league  was  formally  ratified  into  the  United 
States  of  America,  with  the  individual  liberties  of 
each  State  guaranteed.  Therefore  from  the  very 
principle  of  both  the  original  and  the  subsequent 
union,  wdiile  time  may  smooth  away  the  differences 
and  divergencies  between  the  various  members  of 
this  Union,  and  thus  bring  the  States  closer  together 
and  render  them  more  compact,  it  cannot  develop  a 
right  in  any  one  particular  section  to  interfere  with 
practices  and  systems  in  any  other,  recognized  as 
legal  and  legitimate  at  the  time  of  the  original  Union; 
for  power  of  this  kind  belongs  to  conquest  and  op- 
pression. It  is  that  which  Home  exercised  over  her 
provinces  gained  by  the  might  of  the  sword,  which 
Bonaparte  exhibited-  after  victories  in  Germany  and 
Italy,  and  which  England  showed  in  her  dealings 
with  the  American  colonies — the  natural  result  of 
which  was  to  bring  on  the  war  of  the  revolution  that 
made  possible  the  existence  of  the  United  States. 
Therefore,  with  this  view  of  the  character  and  nature 


26  THE   CIVIL  WAB. 

of  the  Federal  Union,  it  is  entirely  a  misnomer  to 
say  that  the  Southern  people  were  "  traitors  "  in  any 
sense  of  the  word;  for  to  be  a  traitor  one  must  com- 
mit tfaitorous  deeds.  Will  future  history,  or  rather 
does  the  whole  past  history  of  the  human  race  define 
treason  as  a  defense  of  individual  rights,  resistance 
to  oppression,  or  devotion  to  a  principle  as  deeply 
rooted  as  the  pillars  of  heaven  and  as  essential  to 
human  happiness  as  the  air  is  essential  to  life?  Con- 
sequently the  Southern  people  would  have  indeed 
been  traitors  to  all  history  had  they  done  otherwise 
under  the  circumstances. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Secession  of  the  States. 

WITH  such  feelings  as  these  prevailing  at  the 
South,  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
seemed  to  bring  matters  to  a  focus.  The  South 
had  hoped  that  the  so-called  conservative  element 
at  the  North  would  put  a  check  upon  the  wild  rush 
of  that  frantic  crusade  that  was  being  made  against 
her.  But  Mr.  Lincoln  being  the  representative  of 
the  most  violent  and  hostile  class,  the  South  began 
to  prepare  to  separate  herself  from  that  Union  which 
had  ceased  to  do  its  duty  toward  her,  which  had 
ceased  to  guarantee  her  rights  or  to  even  give  secu- 
rity to  home  and  fireside,  and  which  had  become 
the  oppressor  instead  of  the  protector. 

Actual  withdrawal  from  the  Union  was  begun  De- 
cember 20,  1860,  by  the  Legislature  of  South  Caro- 
lina unanimously  passing  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
Six  days  later  Major  Anderson,  with  the  United  States 
troops,  evacuated  Fort  Moultrie,  in  Charleston  harbor. 
In'  January,  1861,  Florida  seceded;  followed  by  Mis- 
sissippi on  the  9th  of  the  same  month,  Alabama  on 
the  11th,  Georgia  on  the  20th,  Louisiana  on  the  26th, 
and  Texas  on  February  1.     Thus,  in  less  than  three 

(27) 


28  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

months  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  all  the  so- 
called  cotton  States  had  left  the  Union  by  a  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  people,  and  had  secured  every  Feder- 
al fortification  except  the  ones  in  Charleston  harbor. 
Just  one  month  from  the  secession  of  South  Caro- 
lina, January  21,  1861,  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Missis- 
sipi,  Messrs.  Kilpatrick  and  C,  C.  Clay,  of  Alabama, 
and  Yulee  and  Mallory,  of  Florida,  resigned  their  po- 
sitions in  the  National  Houses  of  Congress.  Though 
in  extreme  bad  health  at  the  time,  Mr.  Davis  made  a 
forcible  yet  temperate  speech  that  made  a  solemn 
and  lasting  impression  upon  his  hearers,  Mr.  Clay's 
speech  of  resignation  was  more  violent  and  aggressive 
in  character,  for  he  made  a  vigorous  attack  upon  the 
Republican  party  as  the  cause  of  the  division  that 
must  necessarily  separate  the  two  sections. 

The  State  of  Virginia  was  not  quite  ready  to  push 
matters  to  the  extreme  of  secession.  Accordingly, 
February  4,  1861,  the  Legislature  met  and  passed  res- 
olutions whose  purpose  was  a  peaceful  and  honorable 
settlement  of  the  difficulties,  to  be  effected  by  a  con- 
ference to  be  held  in  Washington.  At  first  this  line 
of  procedure  seemed  to  meet  with  a  favorable  re- 
sponse, so  that  the  convention  met  at  Richmond 
and  held  a  session  of  several  days'  duration,  but  ad- 
journed without  agreeing  upon  any  definite  plan  of 
adjustment.  Shortly  afterward  the  Legislature  was 
again  called  together,  and  an  election  was  held,  show- 


1861.  THE   SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  29 

ing  that  a  majority  were  opposed  to  an  unconditional 
secession  of  the  State.  Subsequently  Tennessee  and 
North  Carolina  decided  to  call  a  convention  with  a 
somewhat  similar  purpose.  This  apparent  reluctance 
of  these  States  to  rush  at  once  into  secession  en- 
couraged the  enemies  of  the  South  into  thinking 
that  some  at  least  of  the  slave-holding  States  would 
remain  in  the  Union,  and  tamely  submit  to  the  dep- 
rivation of  their  property  and  rights. 

The  Confederacy  Established. 

Meanwhile  the  six  seceded  States  began  to  take 
steps  toward  establishing  a  provisional  government 
by  a  convention  of  delegates  from  each  assembled  at 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  February  4,  1861.  After  deliber- 
ating four  days,  this  body  adopted  a  Constitution  for 
the  Confederate  States  of  America,  which  differed 
very  little  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
In  the  election  of  President  and  Vice-president  on 
the  9th  the  choice  fell  unanimously  upon  Jeff  Davis, 
of  Mississippi,  and  Alexander  Stephens,  of  Georgia. 
The  newly  organized  government  now  began  active 
preparations  to  make  good  its  claim  to  be  numbered 
among  the  nations  of  earth,  and  took  the  initiative 
by  taking  possession  of  the  different  United  States 
forts  and  arsenals.  Fort  Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinck- 
ney,  at  Charleston,  were  captured  by  the  StateJ;roops ; 
Fort  Pulaski,  at  Savannah ;  Mount  Vernon,  Ala.,  was 


30  THE   CIVIL  "WAR.  ISGl. 

taken,  with  twenty  tliousand  stands  of  arms;  Fort 
Morgan,  in  Mobile  Bay;  Forts  Jackson,  St.  Philip, 
and  Pike,  near  New  Orleans,  together  with  the  cus- 
tom-honse  and  mint;  Pensacola  Navy  Yard;  Forts 
Baraccas,  McCrae,  and  Pickens;  the  arsenals  at  both 
Baton  Rouge,  La.,  and  Little  Rock,  Ark. 
,  Martin  Crawford  and  John  Forsyth,  both  of  Geor- 
gia, were  sent  as  commissioners  to  Mr.  Seward,  the 
Secretary  of  State  at  Washington,  in  regard  to  Fort 
Sumter.  They  were  given  the  verbal  assurance  that 
the  United  States  was  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  their 
demands  to  remove  the  troops  from  Fort  Sumter. 
But  in  this  the  commissioners  were  deceived,  for  the 
United  States  Government  was  at  this  same  time 
making  active  preparations  for  a  siege  and  sending 
re-enforcements,  while,  with  their  fleet,  which  ap- 
peared off  the  harbor  April  12,  1861,  they  were 
threatening  the  city  of  Charleston.  These  matters 
were  promptly  telegraphed  to  the  Confederate  Secre- 
tary of  War,  Mr.  Walker,  who  at  once  ordered  General 
Beauregard  to  demand  the  immediate  surrender  of 
the  fort,  and  if  this  demand  was  refused  to  proceed 
to  reduce  it  by  force  of  arms.  Li  reply  to  General 
Beauregard's  demand  to  surrender.  Major  Anderson, 
the  Union  commander,  wrote  as  follows:  "I  have  the 
honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communi- 
cation demanding  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter,  and 
to  say  in  reply  thereto  that  it  is  a  demand  with  which 


Fort  Sumter  in  18C1, 


(30) 


1861.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  31 

I  regret  myBense  of  lienor  and  my  obligation  to  my 
Government  prevent  my  compliance."  General  Beau- 
regard liad  now  no  other  course  save  to  accept  the 
gauntlet  of  war  thus  thrown  down  to  him.  So  a  lit- 
tle after  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  April  12 
he  sent  word  by  his  aids  to  Major  Anderson  that  he 
would  open  fire  with  his  batteries  just  one  hour  from 
that  time. 

The  Fibst  Gun. 

The  signal  shell  that  opened  in  real  earnest  the  aw- 
ful four  year*,  struggle  went  from  Fort  Johnson  with 
its  red  glare  across  the  gray  sky  of  that  momentous 
dawn,  April  12.  This  was  followed  by  the  fire  from 
Fort  Moultrie,  Cumming's  Point,  and  the  floating 
battery.  The  Federals  endured  in  silence  this  can- 
nonading until  seven  o'clock,  when  they  opened  fire 
with  their  guns.  Toward  evening  the  terrific  bom- 
bardment by  the  Confederates  began  to  tell  upon  the 
fort.  The  garrison  was  driven  from  the  barbette 
guns,  and  the  parapet  walls  began  to  crumble  away. 
The  Federal  fleet  off  the  harbor  remained  a  passive 
and  inactive  witness  of  the  certain  destruction  of  the 
fort.  "Why  they  took  no  part  in  the  fight  is  ex- 
plained by  Captain  Cox:  "As  we  neared  the  land, 
heavy  guns  were  heard,  and  the  smoke  and  shells 
from  the  batteries  that  had  just  opened  fire  on  Fort 
Sumter  were  distinctly  visible.  Immediately  I  stood 
out  to  inform  Captain  Kowan,  of  the  'Pawnee,'  but 


32  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

met  liim  coming  in.  He  hailed  me  and  asked  for  a 
pilot,  declaring  liis  intention  of  standing  into  tlie 
harbor  and  sharing  the  fate  of  his  brethren  in  the 
army.  I  went  on  board  and  informed  him  I  would 
answer  for  it  that  the  Government  did  not  expect 
any  such  gallant  sacrifice,  having  settled  upon  the 
policy  indicated  in  the  instructions  to  myself  and 
Captain  Mercer." 

Meanwhile  on  the  shore  the  Confederate  troops 
were  in.  raptures  over  the  prospect  of  victory,  and  on 
the  following  morning  early  (April  13)  every  Con- 
federate battery  opened  fire  upon  Sumter,  which  was 
replied  to  vigorously  for  a  time.  At  eight  o'clock 
smoke  was  seen  issuing  from  the  fort,  and  its  firing 
was  only  at  long  intervals.  At  half -past  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  a  shot  from  Fort  Moultrie  tore  the 
flag-staff  from  the  walls  of  Sumter.  Seeing  the  des- 
perate condifion  of  the  garrison,  and  the  flames  be- 
ing on  the  increase,  General  Beauregard  sent' three  of 
his  aids  with  a  message  to  Major  Anderson,  to  the  ef- 
fect that,  as  his  flag  was  no  longer  flying  and  his  quar- 
ters in  flames,  and,  supposing  him  to  be  in  distress,  he 
desired  to  offer  him  any  assistance  he  might  need. 
However,  before  the  aids  reached  the  fort  the  flag 
was  again  flung  to  the  breeze,  but  only  for  a  short 
time,  for  soon  the  white  flag  of  truce  was  substituted 
for  it,  which  meant  that  after  two  days  of  heavy  bom- 
bardment Sumter  had  surrendered.     It  was  a  joyous 


1861.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  33 

occasion  in  the  city  of  Charleston.  The  ringing  of 
bells,  the  pealing  of  cannon  accompanied  the  shouts 
of  the  happy  and  elated  citizens.  But  in  the  midst 
of  their  rejoicing  they  did  not  forget  that  magnanim- 
ity due  from  the  victor  to  the  conquered.  As  a  testi- 
monial to  the  gallantry  of  Major  Anderson,  General 
Beauregard  not  only  agreed  that  the  garrison  might 
take  passage  for  New  York  at  their  own  convenience, 
but  also  allowed  them,  on  evacuating  the  fort,  to  sa- 
lute their  flag  with  fifty  guns. 

Proclamation  of  War. 

The  fall  of  Sumter  did  not  disturb  Mr.  Lincoln. 
He  had  calculated  the  result  and  the  effect  upon  the 
country.  April  14, 1861,  the  great  proclamation,  call- 
ing for  troops  to  subjugate  in  sixty  days  the  grand- 
est people  in  the  world,  was  sent  forth  as  follows: 
"  Having  thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  do  hereby  call 
forth,  the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union 
to  the  aggregate  number  of  75,000,  in  order  to  sup- 
press said  combinations,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be 
duly  executed.  The  details  for  this  object  will  be 
immediately  communicated  to  the  State  authorities 
through  the  War  Department  at  Washington  City." 

The  effect  of  this  proclamation  was  to  make  the 
Northern  States  a  unit  against  the  South.  Demo- 
crats who  liad  once  been  friends  to  her  now  turned 
against  her,  and  joined  themselves,  with  the  zeal  of 
3 


34  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

new  converts,  to  the  bitter  abolition  party;  and  those 
who  were  before  mild  and  conservative  now  became 
the  fiercest  advocates  of  the  war.  John  Cockraine,  a 
leading  member  of  the  Northern  wing  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  advised  the  masses  to  crush  out  the  re- 
bellion and,  if  need  be,  drown  the  South  in  one  indis- 
criminate sea  of  blood. 

As  antagonism  begets  an  antagonism  of  like  pro- 
portion and  equal  degree,  so  the  Southern  States,  one 
after  another,  refused  to  furnish  to  the  United  States 
Government  troops  with  which  to  subjugate  their  sis- 
ter States.  Governor  McGoffin,  of  Kentucky,  declared 
that  his  State  would  furnish  no  troops,  but  would  re- 
main ctrictly  neutral;  while  Governor  Ellis,  of  North 
Carolina,  replied  to  the  call  that  he  could  take  no 
part  in  violating  the  laws  of  the  land. 

On  April  17  the  glorious  liews  flashed  over  the 
South  that  proud  old  Virginia,  at  last  true  to  her  sis- 
ter States,  had  adopted  the  ordinance  of  secession, 
with  the  following  patriotic  resolutions,  that  sounded 
the  key-note  of  Southern  thought  and  opinion:  "The 
people  of  Virginia  recognize  the  true  American  prin- 
ciple that  the  Government  is  founded  on  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed  and  the  right  of  the  several 
States  of  this  Union  for  just  cause  to  withdraw  from 
their  association  under  the  Federal  Government  with 
the  people  of  the  other  States,  and  to  erect  new  Gov- 
ernments  for  their  better  security;  and  that  they 


1861.  THE   SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  65 

never  will  consent  that  the  Federal  power,  which  is  in 
part  their  power,  shall  be  exerted  for  the  purpose  of 
subjugating  such  States  to  the  Federal  authority." 

Virginia  was  followed  by  Arkansas  May  4;  North 
Carolina,  May  20;  and  Tennessee,  June  8. 

The  light  of  April  19,  1861,  saw  the  spilling  of  the 
first  drop  of  fratricidal  blood.  The  United  States 
troops,  in  passing  through  the  streets  of  Baltimore, 
were  attacked  by  the  brave  and  spirited  citizens  of 
that  noble  city,  and  for  two  weeks  (full  of  excitement 
and  terribly  suggestive  of  the  tenacity  and  bitterness 
of  the  four  years  that  were  to  follow)  the  route  was 
closed  to  the  soldiers.  A  regiment  of  Massachusetts 
volunteers  was  compelled  to  move  its  quarters. 
Meanwhile  the  citizens  flung  to  the  breeze  a  South- 
ern banner  and  were  fired  into  by  the  troops,  whom 
they  in  turn  attacked  with  stones  and  sticks,  or  what- 
ever weapons  might  come  to  hand.  Afterward  a 
mass-meeting  was  held  by  the  thoroughly  indignant 
populace,  and  addresses  were  made  by  the  most  prom- 
inent and  leading  citizens  of  Baltimore  advocating 
secession  as  the  only  palliation  for  their  wounded 
honor. 

On  the  same  day  ( April  19)  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  his 
proclamation  declaring  all  the  ports  of  the  South  in 
state  of  blockade,  and  threatening  that  any  interfer- 
ance  with  the  vessels  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
high  seas  would  be  considered  as  nothinc:  less  than 


36  THE   CIVIL  WAE.  1S61. 

piracy.  Letters  of  marque  had  already  been  issued 
by  the  Confederate  Government.  Just  at  this  time 
Robert  E.  Lee  resigned  his  position  in  the  regular 
army  of  the  United  States,  to  answer  the  call  that  his 
native  State  had  made  for  his  sword  and  his  marvel- 
ous military  genius.  He  was  at  once  placed  in  com- 
mand in  Virginia.  On  the  same  day  with  the  issuing 
of  Lincoln's  blockade  proclamation  and  the  attack 
upon  the  Massachusetts  troops  in  Baltimore  the 
Federals  evacuated  Harper's  Ferry. 

On  the  20th  of  the  following  month  ( May )  the  seat  of 
the  Confederate  Government  was  moved  from  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.,  to  Richmond,  Va.,  where  President 
Davis,  as  the  representative  head  of  the  yet  untried 
republic,  was  accorded  a  warm  and  demonstrative 
welcome. 

The  first  invasion  of  Virginia  was  begun  by  the 
Federal  troops  occupying  Alexandria  (May  4),  and  the 
State  troops  falling  back  and  taking  a  position  at 
Manassas  Junction,  under  the  command  of  General 
Bohan,  of  South  Carolina. 

Battle  of  Bethel. 

Matters  remained  in  about  this  situation  until  the 
10th  of  the  following  month,  when  Colonel  J.  Bank- 
head  Magruder,  who  was  intrenched  at  Great  Bethel 
Church,  nine  miles  south  of  Hampton,  was  attacked 
by  a  Federal  force  under  General  Pierce  four  thou- 


18G1.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE   STATES.  37 

sand  strong.  A  battery  of  Eichmond  howitzers  was 
the  first  to  receive  the  charge.  They  retreated  from 
their  guns,  and  Captain  Bridges,  of  the  First  North 
Carolina,  was  ordered  to  retake  them.  With  a  cool- 
ness and  a  deliberation  rather  characteristic  of 
trained  veterans  than  raw  troops,  they  advanced  to 
the  charge  in  the  midst  of  a  terrible  artillery  fire, 
and  when  within  sixty  yards  of  the  Federals  they 
dashed  forward  at  a  splendid  double-quick  and  drove 
the  Federals  back  in  confusion  to  a  position  ob- 
scured by  the  dense  growth  of  the  timber.  After  a 
considerable  amount  of  skirmishing  and  artillery- 
firing,  the  Federals  were  re-enforced  by  a  column 
under  the  command  of  Major  Winthrop.  The  first 
lines  of  his  troops  wore  white  bands  around  their 
caps,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  deceive  the  Confederates 
and  take  them  unawares,  for  this  band  was  a  badge 
of  their  own  uniform.  Besides,  they  cried  out  re- 
peatedly: "  Don't  fire!  don't  fire!  "  They  crossed  the 
small  creek  between  our  line  and  theirs  with  exultant 
cheers,  evidently  supposing  that  our  work  was  open 
at  that  point,  and  that  by  a  sudden  rush  they  could 
make  a  breach.  But  this  proved  a  costly  delusion 
when  the  steady  and  effective  fire  of  the  North  Car- 
olina Infantry  was  turned  upon  the  Federals,  who 
were  forced  to  fall  back  almost  in  a  rout  and  with  the 
loss  of  their  commander,  Major  Winthrop,  who  had 
excited  the  admiration   of   the  Confederates  by  his 


38  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

conspicuous  gallantry.  Though  this  battle  was  not 
quite  decisive  enough  to  be  called  a  complete  victory, 
yet  it  was  a  timely  check  upon  the  advance  of  the 
Federals. 

The  partial  victory  of  the  Confederates  at  Bethel 
was  followed  by  a  partial  disaster  at  Rich  Mountain, 
in  Randolph  County,  Va.  The  main  body  of  Fed- 
erals, under  General  MacClellan,  twenty  thousand 
strong,  were  advancing  toward  Beverly,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  getting  in  the  rear  of  General  Garnett,  who  had 
been  put  in  command  in  North-west  Virginia.  Gen- 
eral Garnett  had  taken  a  strong '  position  at  Bich 
Mountain,  having  his  forces  arranged  as  follows: 
Colonel  Pegram  occupied  the  mountain  with  one 
thousand  six  hundred  men  and  several  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery; while  General  Garnett,  with  three  thousand 
infantry,  six  pieces  of  artillery,  and  three  companies 
of  cavalry,  had  intrenched  himself  on  the  slopes  of 
Laurel  Hill.  On  the  5  th  of  July  the  Federals  took 
their  position  at  Bealington,  directly  in  front  of  Lau- 
rel Hill;  and  two  days  afterward  a  large  force  held 
a  similar  position  opposite  Bich  Mountain.  With 
the  two  forces  situated  thus  with  respect  to  each 
other.  General  Garnett  was  informed  by  Colonel  Pe- 
gram that  he  had  learned  that  there  were  seven  thou- 
sand men  in  front  of  Bich  Mountain,  with  General 
MacClellan  present  and  in  command,  and  that  orders 
had  already  been  given  for  an  attack  in  front,  while 


1861. 


THE  SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  39 


General  Rosecrans  had  started  around  by  a  conven- 
ient route  with  three  thousand  troops  to  strike  him 
in  the  rear;  that  to  guard  against  that  movement 
against  his  rear  he  had  placed  a  piece  of  artillery 
with  three  hundred  men  at  the  point  where  Rose- 
crans was  expected.  On  the  receipt  o£  this  note 
General  Garnett  at  once  instructed  Colonel  Pegram 
to  defend  his  position  at  all  hazards,  which  order  he 
gallantly  obeyed  when  the  Federals  moved  in  the 
midst  of  a  pouring  rain,  through  the  tangled  and 
pathless  woods,  to  attack  them.  The  Federals  were 
at  first  disappointed  that  their  attempt  to  surprise 
the  little  band  upon  the  mountain  had  failed,  but 
they  continued  to  advance  under  a  terrific  artillery 
fire  that  seemed  to  tear  the  forest  asunder.  As- 
saulted by  more  than  thrice  their  number,  in  both 
front  and  rear,  the  condition  of  the  little  band  was 
hopeless  from  the  beginning;  yet  for  more  than  two 
hours  they  maintained  the  struggle  against  such 
odds,  until  Colonel  Pegram  saw  that  their  only 
chance  was  to  try  to  escape.  Colonel  Tyler,  with  the 
trooi)s  under  him,  succeeded  in  doing  so;  but  Colonel 
Pegram,  receiving  the  news  that  General  Garnett  had 
evacuated  Laurel  Hill,  was  compelled  to  surrender 
the  remaining  five  hundred. 

General  Garnett  conducted  his  retreat  in  remarka- 
bly good  order,  considering  the  difficulties  encount- 
ered.    His  course  lay  through  the  mountains,  over  a 


40  *  THE   CIVIL  WAK.  1861. 

road  hardly  wide  enough  for  one  wagon  to  pass. 
When  the  tired,  weary  little  band  reached  the  branch 
of  the  Cheat  River  the  pursuing  Federals  fell  upon 
their  rear  and  cut  off  four  companies  of  Georgians. 
At  Carrack's  Ford  a  brave  resistance  was  made  by  the 
Twenty-third  Virginia,  under  Colonel  Taliaferro,  who 
occupied  the  high  banks  upon  the  right  of  the  ford. 
With  vigorous  cheers  for  Jeff  Davis,  they  opened 
an  effective  fire  upon  the  Federals  as  they  advanced, 
and  their  fire  was  replied  to  quite  warmly;  but  hav- 
ing exhausted  nearly  every  cartridge,  General  Garnett 
ordered  them  to  retire  and  continue  to  retreat. 
At  the  next  ford  General  Garnett  himself  fell  while 
trying  to  form  his  command  to  defend  the  crossing. 
The  brave  little  remnant,  that  had  literally  contested 
every  inch  of  ground,  finally  managed  to  reach  Mon- 
terey and  form  a  junction  with  General  Jackson. 

The  Confederate  Government  now  found  it  neces- 
sary to  borrow  money  for  the  maintenance  of  its  ar- 
mies ;  so  it  made  what  was  known  as  the  "  produce 
loan,"  having  for  its  basis  the  great  staple,  cotton, 
which  was  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  its  debts. 

The  Confedeeates  Win  at  Manassas. 

Up  to  this  time  the  battles  had  been  comparatively 
skirmishes.  The  first  real  contest  was  soon  to  begin. 
The  two  armies  of  Virginia  had  maneuvered  and 
watched  each  other  warily,  like  two  huge  monsters 


1861.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE   STATES.  41 

preparing  for  mortal  combat.  The  Federals  were 
bouyed  up  by  the  boasted  cry  of  "  On  to  Eichmond!  " 
while  the  Confederates  felt  that  they  were  to  put  to 
the  arbitration  of  the  sword  a  sacred  principle,  and 
that  the  battle  was  to  take  place  at  the  very  threshold 
of  home  and  fireside. 

The  Federals  were  under  a  commander  of  reputa- 
tion, and  one,  too,  in  whom  they  had  all  confidence — 
General  McDowell.  The  Congress  of  the  United 
States  had  given  a  recess,  that  all  its  members  might 
be  present  at  the  anticipated  victory ;  politicians  for- 
got for  the  time  their  state-craft,  merchants  withdrew 
themselves  from  barter  and  trade,  and  mechanics 
laid  aside  their  tools,  that  they  might  see  with  their 
own  eyes  that  first  of  a  series  of  grand  victories 
which  were  to  open  the  gates  of  Bichmond.  The 
fashionable  ladies  of  Washington  forgot  even  their 
tenderness  in  their  desire  to  see  their  favorites  of 
last  night's  ball  crush  the  so-called  "rebels"  and 
"slave-beaters,"  and  were  present  in  the  full  regalia 
of  a  gala  occasion. 

The  divisions  of  Generals  Longstreet  and  Bonham 
confronted  the  Federals  and  consumed  the  17th,  18th, 
and  19th  of  July  in  preliminary  skirmishes,  often  se- 
vere, along  the  Bull  Bun  and  near  the  north-w^est 
junction  of  Manassas  Gap. 

General  Johnston  was  ordered  at  once  to  form  a 
junction  with  General  Beauregard.     He  succeeded 


42  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

in  reaching  Manassas  on   the  20th,  and  united  the 
Seventh   and  Eighth   Georgia   Eegiments   and   the 
Fourth   Alabama,  under  General  Bee,  to  Jackson's 
Brigade,  and  he  then  assumed  entire  command  of  the 
forces  concentrated  here,  which  now  numbered  some- 
thing less  than  thirty  thousand,  divided  into  eight 
brigades.    The  Confederates  determined  to  act  on  the 
defensive.     Soon  after  sunrise  the  Federals  opened 
with  a  heavy  cannonading  in  front  of  Colonel  Evans, 
and  at  the  Stone  Bridge  the  divisions  opposed  to  each 
other  skirmished  for  over  an  hour,  during  which  time 
the  main  body  of  Federals  were  attempting  to  cross 
the  Bull  Run;  which  movement  was  checked,  making 
the  formation  of  a  new  line  of  battle  necessary.     Aft- 
erward, Colonel  Evans,  finding  that  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  crossing,  moved  his  left  and  was 
attacked  by  a  column  sixteen  thousand  strong,  much 
in  excess  of  his  own  numbers ;  while  General  Burnside 
appeared  from  the  woods  in  front,  near  Wheat's  Louis- 
iana Battery.     The  Federals  were  further  re-enforced 
by  the  Second  Rhode  Island  and  a  mounted  battery, 
while  Sloan's  South  Carolina  Regiment  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Confederates.     The  determined  and 
never-faltering   valor  of  Wheat's   Battery  soon  re- 
pulsed the  enemy,  though  their  glorious  commander 
fell  desperately  wounded  while  leading  in  a  gallant 
charge.     To  relieve  this  point  against  the  overwhelm- 
ing numbers  that  were  being  massed  against  it.  Gen- 


1861.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  43 

eral  Bee  came  with  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Georgia, 
Colonel  Bartow  with  the  Fourth  Alabama,  Second 
Mississippi,  and  two  companies  of  the  Eleventh  Mis- 
sissippi, together  with  Imboden's  Battery.  Thus  re- 
enforced,  General  Evans  moved  across  the  plain  and 
took  up  an  advanced  position  which  he  must  hold 
against  fifteen  thousand  Federals.  A  dreadful  con- 
flict of  an  hoTlr's  duration  now  ensued,  which  showed 
what  mettle  the  Southern  soldiers  were  made  of,  and 
that  if  the  Federals  reached  Richmond  their  course 
would  be  more  than  a  holiday  episode.  In  their  ef- 
forts to  drive  our  men  from  their  advanced  position 
the  enemy's  line  was  constantly  broken  and  shattered. 
In  the  meanwhile  General  Sherman  had  crossed  the 
Bull  Run,  and  was  threatening  our  right.  Victory 
seemed  almost  inclined  to  the  Federals;  at  any  rate 
"a  glorious  victory,  with  the  conquest  of  Richmond," 
was  telegraphed  to  Washington.  The  Confederates 
began  to  waver  somewhat,  but  were  checked  for  the 
time  by  the  heroic  Bee,  and  he  too,  having  suffered 
terribly,  was  just  on  the  point  of  being  overwhelmed 
by  the  mere  mass  and  dead  weight  of  the  vastly  su- 
perior numbers  of  the  enemy,  when  General  Jackson 
arrived.  With  the  inexpressible  grief  of  his  heroic 
heart  depicted  on  his  countenance,  he  approached 
Jackson,  and  said:  "General,  they  are  beating  us 
back."  "Sir,"  said  Jackson,  "give  them  the  bayo- 
net."    With  renewed  zeal  and  energy.  Bee  immedi- 


44  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

ately  rallied  his  men,  with  the  inspiring  words: 
"There's  Jackson,  standing  like  a  stone  wall;  let  ns 
determine  to  die  here,  and  we  will  conquer." 

Now  was  the  crisis  of  the  battle.  Orders  had  al- 
most fatally  miscarried,  so  that  General  Beauregard 
had  to  change  his  plan,  which  required  the  greatest 
amount  of  maneuvering  to  retrieve  the  almost  lost 
field. 

By  noon  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  pomp  and  glory  of 
war,  together  with  all  its  horrors  and  terrors,  had  been 
turned  loose  in  this  valley  filled  with  smoke,  and  re- 
verberating and  re-echoing  with  the  awful  roar  of  the 
artillery,  above  which  could  be  heard  the  old  South- 
ern yell,  which  had  sounded  its  glad  note  of  victory 
before,  in  the  wars  with  the  savage,  at  New  Orleans 
with  Jackson,  and  on  the  plains  of  Mexico  with  Tay- 
lor and  Scott. 

On  the  side  of  the  Confederates  matters  were  be- 
coming desperate  now.  Something  must  be  done. 
Their  left  seemed  to  be  overpowered.  Holmes's, 
Lindsay's,  and  Walker's  Batteries;  Bonham's,  Kemp- 
ker's,  Swell's,  and  Longstreet's  Brigades  came  up  just 
in  time.  General  Beauregard  charged  to  the  front 
with  the  Fourth  Alabama.  At  2  o'clock  he  issued 
orders  for  his  entire  line  to  recover  the  positions  they 
had  lost,  which  was  done  with  a  determination  that 
meant  victory.  Generals  Beauregard  and  Johnston 
now  led  a  general  attack,  every  regiment  being  in  ac- 


1861.  THE  SECESSION  OF  THE  STATES.  45 

tion.  The  brave  Bee  fell  mortally  wounded  at  the 
head  of  his  regiment;  a  few  yards  from  him  a  shot 
pierced  the  heart  of  Colonel  Bartow,  while  he  was 
grasping  the  flag  of  his  command;  as  he  fell,  Colonel 
Fisher  was  also  killed.  It  now  became  the  enemy's 
turn  to  retreat,  and  after  a  terrific  resistance  they 
were  driven  across  the  turnpike. 

General  Kirby  Sinith,  with  Elzey's  Brigade  of  the 
Army  of  the  Shenandoah  and  Beckham's  Battery,  had 
reached  Manassas  about  noon.  The  flying  Federals 
had  rallied  and  turned  once  more  against  our  left. 
General  Johnston  ordered  General  Beauregard  to 
seize  the  opportunity  and  throw  forward  his  whole 
line.  The  Federals  were  again  driven  back  to  the 
fields,  which  were  filled  with  masses  of  infantry. 
Thence  they  scattered  in  every  direction  toward  the 
Bull  Run.  Early's  and  Cocke's  Brigades  and  Beck- 
ham's Battery,  with  Stuart's  Cavalry,  continued  to 
play  upon  the  wagon-trains,  and  so  complete  was  the 
rout  and  so  thorough  was  the  demoralization  that 
many  even  begged  clothes  from  the  negroes  in  which 
to  make  their  escape.  The  fields  seemed  covered 
with  the  flying  blue  masses,  and  the  victorious  Con- 
federates continued  to  pursue  the  panic-stricken  Fed- 
erals. The  retreat  became  simply  a  wild  stampede, 
with  no  restraint  whatever.  Thft  wounded  were  left 
uncared  for,  the  dead  unburied,  and  the  wagon-trains 
with  their  immense  stores  of  ammunition  and  provis- 


46  THE   CIVIL  WAll.  18G1. 

ions  forgotten,  nor  did  the  rout  and  confusion  slack- 
en until  Centerville  was  reached.  The  grand  army 
that  in  the  morning  had  turned  its  face  so  hope- 
fully and  so  confidently  boastful  toward  Richmond 
saw  its  bright  prospects  darkened  with  the  going 
down  of  the  sun,  and  had  turned  its  back  in  a  dis- 
graceful panic,  with  a  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
which  must  have  been  considerable,  though  no  accu- 
rate estimate  can  be  given.  As  the  price  of  their 
glorious  victory  the  Confederates  laid  down  369  noble 
lives,  with  1483  wounded. 


■:-Ay-r^, 


CHAPTER  in. 

Af  f  ai  rs  i  n  M  i  ssou  ri. 

ABOUT  this  time  interesting  events  were  taking 
place  in  the  West.  The  Confederate  troops  en- 
camped on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
had  been  forced  to  surrender,  and  a  reign  of  terror 
was  established  by  the  Dutch  Federal  soldiers  mur- 
dering private  citizens  and  seizing  ammunition,  sup- 
plies, and  every  thing  else  which  they  could  lay 
hands  upon.  To  check  their  ravages  and  to  defend 
the  soil  of  his  State,  General  Jackson  issued  a  call 
for  fifty  thousand  troops  and  appointed  General 
Price  major-general,  who  in  turn  created  eight  brig- 
adiers— Parsons,  Hindman,  M.  L.  Clark,  Harris, 
Stine,  Rains,  McBride,  and  Jeff  Thompson.  These 
troops  were  quartered  at  Booneville.  On  the  20th  of 
June  the  Federals  under  General  Lyons  took  up  their 
march  in  that  direction. 

The  barefooted  soldiers  under  General  Marmaduke 
resisted  with  such  signal  courage  as  to  surprise  the 
Federals.  Colonel  Cooke,  a  brother  to  that  notorious 
B.  F.  Cooke  who  was  executed  at  Charlestown,  W. 
Va.,  as  an  accomplice  of  John  Brown,  was  one  of  the 
Federal  home  guards.     These  so-called  home  guards 


48  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

were  all  asleep  in  two  large  barns,  which  Colonel 
O'Kane  attacked,  and  routed  the  inmates,  killing  206 
and  taking  100  prisoners. 

This  was  followed  by  the  severe  battle  of  Oak  Hill, 
which  lasted  six  hours.  The  Federals  had  in  the 
field  ten  thousand  men,  of  whom  they  lost  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners  two  thousand;  the  Confed- 
erates also  captured  six  pieces  of  artillery  and 
seven  hundred  stands  of  arms.  General  Lyons  was 
present  in  i3erson  to  command  the  Federal  troops, 
while  the  .Missourians  were  under  Generals  Slack, 
McBride,  Parsons,  and  Rains  on  the  left,  with  Her- 
bert's regiment  of  Louisiana  volunteers  and  General 
Price  in  the  center.  The  Missourians  opened  an  ef- 
fective fire  with  their  batteries,  and  then  charged  the 
Union  forces.  Thojigh  undrilled,  undisciplined,  and 
untrained,  they  bore  themselves  with  conspicuous 
gallantry,  routing  the  Federals  and  putting  in  full 
retreat  Sigel's.  boasted  "  grand  army "  of  Germans. 

After  the  battle  the  Confederate  forces  returned  to 
the  frontiers  of  Arkansas,  to  get  themselves  ready 
for  their  second  victory,  at  Carthage,  Mo.  Here  they 
were  commanded  by  Generals  Parsons,  J.  B.  Clark, 
and  Slack.  The  character  of  their  equipment  and 
the  nature  of  their  discipline  were  in  painful  contrast 
to  the  perfect  preparation  and  gay  trappings  of  the 
Federals,  whose  equipment  was  complete  in  every  par- 
ticular.    With  old,   rude  field-pieces,  charged  with 


1861.  AFFAIRS  IN  MISSOURI.  49 

pieces  of  iron,  trace-cliains,  and  stones,  they  replied 
to  the  splendid  batteries  of  the  enemy.  Their  cool- 
ness and  the  desperation  with  which  they  fought,  to- 
gether with  the  character  of  the  implements  which 
they  used,  produced  such  fear  in  the  lines  of  the  Fed- 
erals as  to  force  General  Sigel  to  retreat  July  4,  and 
their  valor  called  from  him  the  following  merited 
tribute:  "  Was  the  like  ever  seen?  raw  recruits  stand- 
ing like  veterans,  bidding  defiance  to  every  discharge 
of  cmr  batteries!  Such  material  would  make  the 
best  troops  in  the  world."  This  tactician  and  milita- 
ry scientist  looked  only  to  the  outward  and  artificial 
side  of  the  soldier;  he  forgot  that  at  the  heart,  with 
the  purposes  that  stir  it  to  action,  is  to  be  found  the 
material  for  the  real  soldier.  These  brave  Missou- 
rians  were  defending  home  and  native  land  and  out- 
raged law,  and,  consequently,  to  them  the  drilling  and 
tlie  execution  of  the  mechanical  part  of  a  soldier's 
art  were  matters  of  secondary  importance. 

The  Federal  general,  Lyons,  was  left  by  his  own 
men  dead  upon  this  field  of  carnage,  but  his  body  was 
tenderly  cared  for  by  the  magnanimous  victors,  and 
shipped  to  friends. 

Missouri  now  wheeled  herself  into  line  with  the 
other  Southern  States,  by  the  Legislature  in  session 
at  Neosho  passing  the  ordinance  of  secession. 

The  battle  of  Lexington,  Mo.,  added  another  star 
to  the  Confederate  crown  of  victory  in  the  West. 


50  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

Here  were  captured  three  thousand  prisoners,  among 
whom  were  Colonels  Mulligan,  Peabody,  "White,  Gro- 
ver,  and  Yan  Horn,  with  eighteen  commissioned 
officers,  besides  guns  and  ammunition.  There  were 
also  taken  seven  hundred  and  fifty  horses  and  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  commissary 
stores — just  what  the  Confederates  were  in  great 
need  of.  Commenting  upon  this  victory,  General 
Price  adds  another  laurel  to  the  soldiers  of  Missouri : 
"This  battle  demonstrated  clearly  the  fitness  of' citi- 
zen soldiery  for  the  tedious  operations  of  a  siege." 

September  1,  at  a  place  called  Blue  Hills,  which 
gave  the  name  to  the  battle,  General  D.  R.  Atchi- 
son and  Colonel  Sanders  attacked  the  Federals  with 
reckless  valor  and  daring,  and  drove  them  ten  miles. 
The  Confederates  took  a  number  of  tents  and  many 
camp  supplies  that  the  Federals  had  left  in  their 
flight.  The  Federals  received  such  heavy  re-enforce- 
ments under  General  Fremont  that  General  Price 
thought  it  best  to  fall  back.  The  retreat  was  accom- 
plished successfully,  especially  through  the  consum- 
mate skill  of  General  Jeff  Thompson  with  his 
"  swamp  "  brigade. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Battle  of  Cheat  Mountain. 

RETUENING  now  to  the  East,  we  find  matters 
still  very  active  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cheat 
Mountain.  At  Seay  Creek,  in  the  Kanawha  Valley, 
General  Wise  had  repulsed  three  regiments  of  Fed- 
erals, and  was  sanguine  of  doing  a  great  work  in  the 
valley,  when  the  disaster  at  Rich  Mountain  exposed 
his  little  army  to  such  peril  that  he  was  forced  to  fall 
back  to  Lewisburg,  destroying  all  bridges  behind  him. 

General  Floyd  surprised  the  Federals  at  breakfast 
at  White  Sulphur  Springs,  and  attacked  them,  caus- 
ing them  to  stampede  in  all  directions.  He  then 
strengthened  his  position  on  the  Gauley. 

General  Lee  now  repaired  with  re-enforcements  to 
the  scene  of  action,  and  early  in  August  he  arrived  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cheat  Mountain  and  at  once  made  his 
plans  for  battle;  but  on  account  of  some  misunder- 
standing a  retreat  was  caused  without  the  firing  of 
a  single  gun.  Thus  having  failed  to  dislodge  the  Fed- 
erals, he  went  to  the  valley  to  the  relief  of  Generals 
Floyd  and  Wise.  At  first  taking  up  his  head-quarters 
with  General  Floyd  for  the  purpose  of  examining  his 
position,  he  proceeded  thence  to  Sewell,  where  he 

(51) 


52  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861, 

found  General  Wise  with  the  Federals  in  front  twenty- 
thousand  strong,  in  which  position  they  remained  for 
fifteen  days,  until  General  Bosecrans  disappeared 
one  night,  much  to  the  surprise  of  General  Lee. 

General  Lee  now  withdrew  from  Cheat  Mountain 
to  Gauley,  leaving  General  T.  J.  Jackson  behind  with 
twenty-five  hundred  men  completely  at  his  disposal, 
with  whom  to  do  as  he  pleased.  General  Jackson 
was  then  attacked  by  the  Federals,  but  gallantly  re- 
pulsed them,  his  pickets  holding  the  entire  column  in 
check  for  over  an  hour,  so  that  they  were  misled  into 
believing  that  there  was  a  considerable  army  in  the 
rear.  With  this  idea  they  made  an  almost  precipi- 
tate retreat. 

The  severity  of  the  weather  now  put  an  end  to  the 
campaign  in  Western  Virginia,  for  awhile  at  least. 

General  Floyd,  at  his  own  request,  was  sent  to  Cot- 
ton Mills,  where  he  was  attacked  by  General  Rose- 
crans.  He  retreated,  but  managed  not  to  leave  his 
wounded  in  possession  of  the  Federals.  He  was  then 
transferred  to  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 

The  Federal  General  Stone,  being  persuaded  that 
no  important  force  of  Confederates  remained  in  the 
Upper  Potomac  region,  began  to  cross  that  river  Sun- 
day, October  20,  at  Harrison's  Landing.  Five  com- 
panies of  Massachusetts  troops  under  Colonel  Devins 
succeeded  in  making  a  crossing.  A  few  hours  later 
Colonel  Baker  took  command  of  these,  with  orders 


1861.  BATTLE  OF  CHEAT  MOUNTAIN.  53 

from  General  Stone  to  drive  the  Confederates  from 
Leesburg,  whose  force  consisted  of  the  brigade  of 
General  Evans  (one  of  the  conspicuous  and  heroic 
actors  on  the  bloody  field  of  Manassas).  This  brig- 
ade was  made  up  of  four  regiments — the  Eighteenth 
Virginia,  Thirteenth,  Seventeenth,  and  Eighteenth 
Mississippi.  Taking  up  their  position  on  Goose 
Creek,  they  bravely  awaited  the  overwhelming  num- 
ber of  the  Federals.  Lieutenant-colonel  Jenifer,  with 
four  Mississippi  companies,  held  the  approaches  to- 
ward Leesburg;  while  Colonel  Hunter,  with  the  Vir- 
ginians, became  hotly  engaged  with  the  enemy  in  the 
woods.  About  two  o'clock,  seeing  that  the  Federals 
were  being  re-enforced,  Colonel  Burt,  with  the  Eight- 
eentli  Mississippi,  attacked  them  on  the  left  flank,  and 
Colonels  Hunter  and  Jenifer  moved  against  their 
front.  Colonel  Burt  was  received  with  such  a  heavy 
fire  from  the  Federals  concealed  in  the  woods  that  he 
was  compelled  even  to  divide  his  forces  in  order  to 
avoid  a  flank  movement;  but  he  was  soon  supported 
by  the  Seventeenth  Mississippi,  under  Colonel  Feath- . 
erston,  who  came  into  action  at  a  gallant  double- 
quick.  The  battle  now  became  general  along  the 
whole  Confederate  line,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Thirteenth  Mississippi,  with  six  pieces  of  artillery, 
which  was  held  in  reserve.  For  two  hours  the  Con- 
federates fought  with  their  characteristic  methods — 
a  desperation  and  a  valor  that  were  satisfied  with  noth- 


54  THE   CIVIL  WAll.  18G1. 

ing  short  of  victory.  Against  this  the  Federals  could 
not  sustain  themselves.  They  were  driven  back  to 
the  river,  with  the  loss  of  their  commander,  Colonel 
Baker.  When  Colonel  Evans  saw  them  on  the  re- 
treat he  ordered  his  boys  to  charge.  Naturally  the 
retreat  became  a  rout  and  a  race  for  life  on  the  part 
of  the  panic-stricken  Federals  in  their  efforts  to 
reach  the  other  bank  of  the  river.  The  spectacle  of 
a  whole  army  completely  beside  themselves  with  fear, 
rolling  and  tumbling,  pushing  and  scrambling  down 
the  steep  bluffs  and  banks  of  the  river,  in  the  worst 
possible  confusion,  with  the  shrieks  of  the  drowning 
added  to  the  other  horrors  of  the  battle-field,  was 
simply  appalling. 

This  defeat  was  named  in  the  Federal  Congress  "  a 
national  calamity,"  and  it  was  said  that  "  another 
laurel  was  added  to  the  chaplet  of  the  rebellion." 
And  rightly  too  was  it  a  serious  cause  for  alarm  at 
the  North,  for  the  superior  fighting  qualities  of  the 
Southern  soldier  were  being  demonstrated  on  every 
field  where  he  had  any  thing  like  equal  terms. 

Cumberland  Gap. 

To  protect  the  mountain  passes  in  East  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  that  were  like  open  gate- ways,  threat- 
ening not  only  those  two  States,  but  also  the  whole 
South,  General  Zollicoffer  was  sent,  September  14, 
with   seven    thousand  troops   to   Cumberland   Gap. 


18G1.  BATTLE  OF  CHEAT  MOUNTAIN.  65 

To  show  that  he  respected  the  assumed  neutrality 
of  the  State  of  Kentucky  more  than  did  the  Feder- 
als, he  sent  the  following  telegram  to  Governor  Mc- 
Goffin :  "  The  safety  of  Tennessee  required  the  Con- 
federate authorities  to  occupy  these  mountain  passes. 
I  postponed  this  movement  until  the  despotic  Gov- 
ernment at  Washington  refused  to  recognize  the 
neutrality  of  Kentucky.  We  have  ever  felt  toward 
Kentucky  as  a  twin  sister;  we  are  as  one  people  in 
valor,  kindred,  sympathy,  and  patriotism."  With  this 
ho  also  issued  an  order  that  he  had  come  to  defend 
the  soil  of  a  sister  State,  and  that  no  citizen  of  Ken- 
tucky was  to  be  molested  in  property  or  liberty.  He 
then  continued  to  advance  toward  Somerset,  driving 
the  Federals  before  him.  He  was  opposed  by  a  Ger- 
man general,  Schoepff,  with  troops  of  like  nationality, 
who  was  deluded  into  the  belief  that  General  Hardee 
was  on  his  left  flank;  consequently  he  performed  that 
famous  "wild-cat  stampede,"  fleeing  for  two  whole 
days,  scattering  along  his  course  guns,  knapsacks, 
and  every  thing  that  would  impede  men  when  strip- 
ping to  run  a  race.  This  retreat  was  continued,  and 
was  a  case  of  "  the  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursu- 
eth." 

In  occupying  these  passes  it  was  the  purpose  of  the 
Federals  to  have  means  open  of  invading  South-west 
Virginia,  getting  possession  of  the  salt-works  of 
Western  Virginia,  and  of  cutting  off  communications 


66  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

with  Richmond  and  Memphis.  To  oppose  this  de- 
sign, a  small  force  of  a  thousand  men  was  raised  at 
Prestonburg  by  Colonel  Williams,  but  he  was  forced 
to  retreat  before  the  vastly  superior  numbers  of  Gen- 
eral Nelson,  who  boastfully  had  this  ^  insignificant 
skirmish  heralded  throughout  the  North  as  a  great 
and  decisive  victory. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Affairs  in  Kentucky. 

AFTER  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  a  Union  party 
was  formed  in  Kentucky,  with  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  secession  of  their  State.  Resisting  all 
pressure  from  this  quarter,  Governor  McGoffin  re- 
fused to  respond  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  to  furnish 
troops  for  the  subjugation  of  the  Southern  States, 
which  step  seemed  to  meet  with  the  approval  of  the 
majority  of  conservative  citizens.  In  a  short  time, 
however,  relations  between  the  two  extremes  of  opin- 
ion became  very  •  much  strained.  Every  "  States' 
rights"  paper  was  suspended;  General  Buckner  unit- 
ed his  fortunes  with  the  Confederacy;  in  complete 
defiance  of  law.  Ex-governor  Morehea^,  on  account  of 
his  Southern  principles,  was  arrested  in  the  presence 
of  his  family  and  sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Louisville. 
To  avoid  the  same  treatment,  the  following  promi- 
nent and  leading  citizens  were  forced  to  flee  from 
their  homes:  Hon.  John  C.  Breckinridge,  Ex-vice- 
president;  Colonel  G.  "W.  Johnson;  T.  B.  Moore,  Sec- 
retary of  State;  TVilliam  Preston  Johnson,  former 
Minister  to  Spain;  Colonel  Humphrey  Marshall,  Ex- 
member  of  Congress;  and  Captain  John  H.  Morgan, 

(57) 


58  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G1. 

afterward  so  widely  celebrated  on  account  of  his  dar- 
ing cavalry  exploits. 

In  the  meantime  the  authorities  of  the  State  con- 
tinued to  demand  that  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky  be 
respected;  and  the  Legislature  passed  special  resolu- 
tions asking  General  Polk — who,  in  the  early  part  of 
September,  had  occupied  Columbus — to  withdraw 
from  their  borders.  General  Polk  issued  a  procla- 
mation declaring  that  he  would  act  in  accordance 
with  their  wish  if  they  would  force  the  Federals  to 
do  likewise.  This  proposition  was  rejected  by  the  ad- 
herents of  the  Federal  Government,  though  they  had 
been  the  first  to  violate  the  neutrality  of  Kentucky. 

To  anticipate  somewhat,  it  may  be  properly  stated 
here  that  the  sympathizers  of  the  South,  not  being 
any  longer  able  to  endure  the  treatment  which  they 
were  suffering  at  the  hands  of  their  opponents,  met 
at  Kussellville  November  18,  and  on  the  20th  unani- 
mously adopted  resolutions  of  secession,  choosing 
George  W.  Johnson  Governor  and  sending  commis- 
sioners to  Richmond  asking  for  admission  into  the 
Confederacy.  Their  prayer  was  granted,  and  by  the 
middle  of  December  Kentucky  was  joined  hand  and 
heart  with  her  sister  States. 

General  Polk  Attacked  by  the  Federals. 

"While  engaged  in  finishing  his  fortifications  at  Co- 
lumbus, General  Polk  was  attacked,  on  the  morning 


18G1.  AFFAIKS  IN  KENTUCKY.  59 

of  November  7,  by  a  strong  force  from  Cairo.  Hear- 
ing that  General  Grant  was  on  the  river  with  gun- 
boats and  transports,  and  trying  to  land  on  the 
Missouri  shore,  six  miles  above  Belmont,  he  ordered 
General  Pillow  to  cross  the  river  at  once  with  four 
regiments  and  go  to  the  relief  of  Colonel  Tappan  at 
Belmont.  Before  they  were  able  to  get  well  settled 
in  their  position  the  skirmishers  were  driven  in,  and 
it  was  evident  that  they  were  engaged  with  an  enemy 
numerous  enough  to  surround  them  with  a  line  three 
deep.  The  Federals  made  several  vain  attempts  at  a 
flank  movement,  both  against  the  left  and  the  right. 
On  the  right  they  were  repulsed  by  the  determined  re- 
sistance of  Colonel  Tappan's  forces,  together  with  the 
Thirteenth  Arkansas  and  the  Ninth  Tennessee,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Bussell;  while  on  the  left  their 
defeat  was  due  to  the  deadly  fire  of  Beltzhoover's 
Battery.  Colonel  Beltzhoover's  ammunition  became 
exhausted,  as  did  also  Colonels  Bell's  and  Wright's. 
In  reply  to  reports  to  this  effect  General  Pillow  gave 
the  order  to  charge  bayonets,  which  was  executed  so 
gallantly  and  effectively  by  the  whole  line  that  the 
enemy  were  driven  to  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  Here, 
however,  supported  by  a  large  reserve,  they  forced 
the  Confederates  back  to  their  former  position,  who 
repeated  their  bayonet  charge  again  and  again,  driv- 
ing the  Federals  back  each  time  upon  their  reserves. 
Soon  perceiving  the  utter  uselessness  of  maintaining 


60  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1861. 

such  an  unequal  contest,  General  Pillow  ordered  the 
whole  line  to  fall  back  to  the  river-bank.  It  seemed 
now  that  tlje  Confederates  must  -yield  the  palm  of 
victory  to  the  enemy,  when,  just  at  the  proper  time, 
Colonel  Walker,  with  the  Second  Tennessee,  crossed 
the  river  and  came  to  General  Pillow's  support.  Thus 
re-enforced,  he  hastened  with  all  speed  up  the  river, 
turning  the  enemy's  position  and  getting  in  their  rear. 
At  this  point  he  was  further  re-enforced  by  fresh 
troops,  whom,  with  the  Eleventh  Louisiana,  he  placed 
under  command  of  Colonel  Marks.  These  proceeded 
at  once,  with  the  support  of  Colonel  Russell,  to 
charge  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  while  General  Cheat- 
ham took  a  position  in  sight  of  the  shore  to  assist 
'  Colonel  Marks,  if  necessary.  The  enemy  now  turned 
their  attention  to  the  boats,  which  were  used  in  trans- 
porting our  troops  across  the  river,  and  opened  a 
heavy  fire  upon  them.  To  oppose  this  movement, 
Captain  Smith's  Battery  was  located  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  river.  The  Federals  now  found  that 
they  were  in  a  dilemma  from  which  it  seemed  difii- 
cult  to  extricate  themselves;  General  Cheatham  was 
pressing  them  on  their  flank,  Colonels  Marks  and 
Kussell  were  making  matters  extremely  unpleasant 
in  the  rear,  while  Smith's  Artillery  was  thundering 
in  front  of  them.  Consequently,  after  but  a  feeble 
resistance,  they  broke  and  ran  in  utter  confusion. 
General  Polk  had,  in  the  meantime,  crossed  the  riv- 


1862.  AFFAIRS  IN  KENTUCKY.  61 

er,  and,  with  the  united  commands,  he  vigorously 
pressed  the  pursuit  until  they  reached  the  surgical 
head-quarters  of  the  enemy,  where  they  captured 
much-needed  supplies  of  every  character — blankets, 
clothes,  provisions,  wagons,  horses,  etc.  To  complete 
the  confusion  and  dismay  of  the  enemy,  even  after 
they  had  reached  their  boats  they  were  subjected  to  a 
destructive  fire  from  our  troops,  who  lined  the  banks 
of  the  river. 

In  his  official  report  General  Pillow  said  that  no 
further  evidence  was  needed  to  assure  the  fact  that 
this  small  Spartan  army,  which  withstood  the  con- 
stant fire  of  three  times  their  number  for  nearly  four 
hours  (a  large  portion  being  out  of  ammunition), 
had  acted  with  extraordinary  gallantry,  and  that 
complete  results  had  crowned  the  day. 

The  Confederates  lost,  in  killed  and  wounded  and 
missing,  632,  while  the  Federals  sustained  a  loss  of 
fully  three  times  that  number.  Thus,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  victory  at  Belmont  was  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  war. 

Death  of  General  Zollicoffeb. 

Resuming  the  narration  of  the  exploits  of  General 
ZoUicoffer  in  Eastern  Kentucky,  we  find  that  he 
had  moved  his  forces  to  Mill  Springs,  on  Fishing 
Creek,  January  1,  1862,  Here  General  Crittenden 
assumed  command.     The  army  was  in  great  distress 


62  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1862. 

on  account  of  want  of  provisions  for  both  man  and 
beast,  for  only  one  boat-load  of  supplies  had  come  up 
from  Nashville.  The  severity  of  bitter  midwinter 
weather  made  their  situation  all  the  more  wretched. 
However,  with  such  a  force,  hardly  prepared  to  cope 
with  the  enemy  even  on  equal  terms,  General  Critten- 
den began  at  midnight  to  charge  General  Thomas, 
with  ten  thousand  men  intrenched  at  Beech  Grove. 
The  battle  began  in  real  earnest  on  the  morning  of 
January  19,  General  Zollicoffer  leading  the  front. 
The  charge  was  gallantly  made  in  the  face  of  a  gall- 
ing fire  from  the  enemy,  who  were  being  gradually 
driven  back;  when  General  Zollicoffer,  just  as  he  had 
mounted  the  crest  of  the  hill  around  which  the  battle 
raged  fiercest,  was  shot  by  the  Federal  Colonel  Fry, 
and  fell  back  dead  in  the  midst  of  his  friends. 
Colonel  Battle's  noble  regiment  of  Tennesseeans. 
This  unfortunate  affair  pat  a  new  phase  upon  the 
battle,  by  producing  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  sol- 
diers, especially  the  Tennessee  troops,  by  whom  Gen- 
eral Zollicoffer  was  greatly  beloved.  In  spite  of  his 
most  persistent  efforts,  General  Crittenden  was  forced 
to  retreat  to  Monticello,  in  order  to  open  communica- 
tion with  Nashville. 

In  the  meantime  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
had  been  placed  in  command  of  the  Western  Army, 
and  his  line  embraced  a  position  sixty  miles  below 
Louisville,  on  the  railroad.     The  Federals  had  ad- 


1862.  AFFAIRS   IN  KENTUCKY.  63 

vanced  to  Munfordville,  and  had  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  portion  of  their  forces  across  Green  Eiver  to 
Woodson  ville,  where  they  were  attacked  and  defeated, 
December  17,  1861,  by  General  Hindman,  with  a  loss 
of  fifty  killed. 

General  Johnston  was  forced  to  abandon  his  posi- 
tion at  Bowling  Green,  on  account  of  the  immense 
numbers  that  were  threatening  him  under  General 
Buell,'for  it  is  estimated  that  the  Federal  force  in 
Kentucky  at  this  time  consisted  of  over  a  hundred 
thousand,  made  up  principally  of  Western  men. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Fort  Donelson— Permanent  Organization. 

THE  Confederate  Congress,  recognizing  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  Rivers 
as  the  key  to  Nashville  and  other  strong  strategic 
points,  made  large  appropriations  for  the  construc- 
tion of  floating  batteries  and  other  defenses. 

The  enemy,  under  General  Grant,  moved  up  the 
Cumberland  Kiver,  and,  after  a  gallant  resistance, 
forced  the  brave  defenders  of  Fort  Henry  to  surren- 
der. He  then  proceeded  against  Fort  Donelson. 
Here  General  Johnston  had  sent  the  best  divisions  of 
his  troops,  as  both  he  and  General  Beauregard,  after 
a  consultation,  had  concluded  that  this  was  the  most 
important  point  at  which  they  could  make  their  de- 
fense. 

The  Battle  of  Fort  Donelson. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  February  13  General 
Floyd,  who  had  been  stationed  at  Russell ville,  Ky., 
reached  the  scene  of  action.  With  the  rising  of  the 
sun  the  booming  of  the  guns  from  one  of  the  boats 
announced  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  which  was  con- 
tinued all  day,  with  heavy  cannonading  and  tittacks 

on  several  points  of  our  lines,  which  were  completely 
(64) 


1862.    FORT  DONELSON— PERMANENT  ORGANIZATION.      65 

repulsed,  the  enemy  being  forced  back  to  their  origi- 
nal position.  Thus  the  strength  of  our  line  was  well 
tested. 

On  the  following  day  no  preparation  seemed  to  be 
made  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  for  a  renewal  of  their 
attack;  but  the  activity  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
gun-boats  showed  that  great  re-enforcements  were 
coming  to  a  force  already  thirty  thousand  strong. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  however,  having 
formed  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent,  the  fleet  of  the 
enemy  opened  fire,  which  was  replied  to  so  vigor- 
ously that  the  effect  of  our  shot  upon  the  iron-clads 
could  be  clearly  seen. 

New  troops  by  the  thousands  seemed  to  be  joining 
the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  Nor  did  their  fire  cease 
after  dark,  which  kept  the  Confederates  from  a  much- 
needed  rest.  Thus  they  were  forced  to  watch  the 
whole  of  that  bitter  night  through,  with  the  mercury 
ten  degrees  below  zero,  and  exposed  to  sleet  and  snow. 

At  a  consultation  held  by  General  Floyd  it  was 
seen  that  their  cause  was  hopeless  under  the  existing 
circumstances,  and  the  only  course  left  open  to  them 
was  to  attempt  to  cut  their  way  through  the  opposing 
lines  of  the  enemy.  Accordingly  General  Pillow, 
assisted  by  Colonel  Bushrod  Johnson,  Colonel  Bald- 
win commanding  the  Mississippi  and  Tennessee 
troojjs  and  Colonels  Wharton  and  McCausland  com- 
manding the  Virginians,  moved  from  his  position 
5 


66  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1862. 

early  in  the  morning.  He  found  tlio  Federals  ready 
to  receive  him  in  front  of  their  camps.  A  stubborn 
conflict  ensued,  desperately  fought,  with  every  inch  of 
ground  contested.  Finally  the  enemy,  fighting  brave- 
ly, fell  back  to  the  Winn's  Ferry  Eoad,  where  Gen- 
eral Buckner  was  defending  the  Confederate  right. 
They  attacked  him,  and  after  two  hours  of  hard 
fighting  gained  possession  of  the  most  advanta- 
geous part  of  his  intrenchments.  Thus,  after  a  nine 
hours'  struggle,  marked  on  both  sides  by  a  desperate 
courage  that  showed  itself  in  the  number  of  the  dead 
scattered  over  the  field,  the  Federals  were  virtually 
in  possession  of  all  points  of  advantage  and  impor- 
tance. With  only  thirteen  thousand  men,  weakened 
by  exposure  in  the  trenches,  and  worn  out  by  the  hard 
fighting,  it  seemed  utterly  hopeless  for  the  Confeder- 
aies  to  renew  the  conflict.  Therefore  surrender  was 
agreed  upon;  but  Generals  Floyd  and  Pillow  both  re- 
fused to  surrender  either  their  own  persons  or  their 
commands,  so  the  unpleasant  duty  devolved  upon 
General  Buckner,  who  was  offered  terms  by  General 
Grant,  in  reply  to  which  he  wrote:  "The  distribution 
of  the  forces  under  my  command  compel  me,  not- 
withstanding the  brilliant  success  of  yesterday,  to 
accept  the  ungenerous  and  unchivalrous  terms  you 
propose."  The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  enemy  was  con- 
jectured to  be  about  five  thousand,  and  the  Confed- 
erate loss  about  one-third  of  that  number. 


18g2.  fort  donelson — permanent  organization.     67 

The  Confederates  Evacuate  Nashville. 

Immediately  on  receiving  news  of  the  fall  of  Don- 
elson  General  Johnston  saw  that  Nashville  could  not 
be  defended  without  the  destruction  of  the  city. 
When  his  purpose  became  known  a  wild  panic  en- 
sued on  the  part  of  the  citizens  to  get  out  of  reach  of 
the  advancing  enemy.  The  State  Legislature,  with 
Governor  Harris  in  possession  of  the  documents  and 
valuables  of  the  State,  fled  to  Memphis.  A  great 
quantity  of  stores  and  provisions  were  lost,  though 
Generals  Floyd  and  Forrest  remained  and  endeav- 
ored to  ship  away  as  much  as  possible,  that  it  might 
not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Even  large 
numbers  of  the  wounded  had  to  be  left  in  the  hospi- 
tal, but  these  were  tenderly  cared  for  by  the  loyal  and 
devoted  women  of  Nashville  and  the  patriotic  meat!' 
Thus,  with  the  enemy  present  at  their  doors,  dev6- 
tion  to  the  principles  of  secession  and  love. for  the 
South  were  intensified,  and  any  lukewarmness  van- 
ished and  gave  place  to  an  earnest  enthusiasm  for 
their  cause.  "With  a  noble  generosity,  and  though 
they  knew  not  how  they  themselves  were  to  fare  in 
future,  they  entertained  the  soldiers  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, filling  their  haversacks  and  bidding  them  god- 
speed in  their  battle  for  right. 

General  Johnston  meanwhile  had  reached  Mur- 
freesboro,  and  was  resting  the  main  body  of  his  army 
there. 


08  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1862. 

A  Permanent  Organization 
was  effected  by  the  Confederate  Government  on  the 
22d  of  February,  1862,  when  affairs  did  not  look  so 
bright  for  the  young  Government  as  in  the  begin- 
ning. It  seemed  almost  impossible,  as  President  Da- 
vis himself  declared,  to  furnish  adequate  protection 
at  all  points,  both  on  land  and  sea;  but  the  best  pos- 
sible measures  under  the  circumstances  were  being 
taken.  But  the  financial  aspect  of  the  war  was  at 
least  encouraging,  for  there  was  no  floating  debt,  the 
credit  of  the  Government  was  unimpaired  with  the 
people,  and  the  total  expenditure  for  the  year — one 
hundred  and  seventy  million  dollars — was  one-third 
less  than  that  expended  by  the  Federal  Congress. 
Moreover,  the  recent  reverses  had  a  tendency  to 
quicken  the  energies  of  the  authorities  so  as  to  pro- 
duce vigorous  and  active  measures,  among  which  was 
the  "  Conscript  Bill."  The  farmers  of  the  country 
were  also  urged  to  decrease  their  plant  of  cotton  and 
put  into  the  soil  other  things  more  necessary  to  the 
sustenance  of  man  and  beast. 

The  confiscation  of  property  by  the  Federal  author- 
ities, their  imprisonment  and  bad  treatment  of  citi- 
zens— all  had  a  tendency,  while  it  exasperated  the 
people,  to  intensify  their  devotion  to  the  Confederacy 
and  to  strengthen  the  energy  of  their  resistance  to 
the  Federal  power. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Affairs  on  the  Water. 

AFTEK  the  abandonment  o£  Columbus  by  the 
Confederates,  the  defense  of  Island  Number 
Ten— situated  in  a  bend  of  the  Mississippi,  thirty 
miles  in  length,  near  the  towns  of  New  Madrid  and 
Point  Pleasant,  Mo.— was  intrusted  to  General 
Beauregard.  This  island  was  looked  upon  as  the 
chief  barrier  against  the  Federals  entering  the  South- 
ern Mississippi.  It  was  considered  thoroughly  im- 
pregnable, having  an  immense  swamp  on  the  Missouri 
side  and  on  the  other  side  a  lake  several  miles  wide. 

On  the  I2th  of  October  the  submerged  ram,  the 
"  Manassas,"  made  an  attack  upon  the  Federal  squad- 
ron near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
succeeded  in  sinking  the  "  Preble  "  and  driving  the 
others  out  of  the  river  into  the  gulf. 

A  Confederate  Naval  Yictoey  at  Hampton  Roads. 

The  Confederate  squadron  in  the  James  River  was 
commanded  by  Franklin  Buchanan.  The  fleet  con- 
sisted of  the  "Virginia,"  which  was  the  remodeled 
"Merimac"  that  had  been  partially  destroyed;  the 

steamer  "Patrick  Henry,"  twelve  guns;  the  steamer 

(69) 


70  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

"Jamestown,"  two  guns;  and  the  gun-boats  "  Teazer," 
"Beaufort,"  and  "Raleigh."  With  these  he  moved 
out  to  Newport  News  to  offer  battle  to  the  enemy. 
Before  going  into  the  engagement  Captain  Buchanan 
addressed  his  men  as  follows:  "My  men,  you  are 
about  to  face  the  enemy.  You  shall  have  no  reason 
to  complain  of  fighting  at  close  quarters.  Remem- 
ber that  you  fight  for  your  homes  and  your  country. 
You  see  those  ships;  you  must  sink  them;  I  need  not 
ask  you  to  do  it;  I  know  you  will  do  it." 

The  Federal  ship  "  Congress "  occupied  a  po- 
sition below  the  batteries,  at  Newport  News,  while 
the  "  Cumberland  "  was  just  opposite  them.  "With  a 
determination  to  sink  the  "  Cumberland "  with  the 
"Virginia,"  Captain  Buchanan  steamed  straight  to- 
ward her,  complimenting  the  "  Congress "  with  a 
broadside  as  he  passed,  which  was  returned,  but 
without  producing  any  damage.  The  shore  batteries, 
together  with  both  ships,  now  concentrated  their  fire 
upon  the  "  Virginia,"  which  kept  straight  on,  raking 
the  "  Cumberland  "  fore  and  aft  with  the  discharge 
of  her  guns,  and  striking  her  bow  below  the  water- 
line  with  such  terrible  effect  that  in  fifteen  minutes 
the  waters  of  the  ocean  rolled  over  the  flag  of  the 
"  Cumberland,"  that  had  been  kept  floating  to  the 
last.  The  "  Virginia  "  did  not  rest  with  this  success, 
but  went  to  serve  the  "  Congress  "  similarly.  On  ac- 
count  of   the   shallowness  of  the  water,  she  could 


1862.  AFFAIRS  ON  THE  WATER.  71 

make  but  slow  progress,  her  keel  being  in  the  mud. 
However,  she  managed  to  get  in  position  above  the 
James  Kiver  Batteries,  though  she  had  to  endure  a 
second  time  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  In  making  this 
movement  the  Federals  were  considerably  elated,  in 
that  they  thought  the  Confederate  "  terror"  had  sus- 
tained such  injuries  as  to  force  her  to  withdraw  from 
the  contest.  But  when  she  turned  a  terrible  broad- 
side upon  the  "  Congress,"  producing  death  and  de- 
struction, dismay  and  confusion  was  the  result.  A 
flag  of  truce  was  immediately  run  up  at  the  mast- 
head, and  the  commander  of  the  "  Beaufort "  was 
ordered  by  Captain  Buchanan  to  go  and  take  pos- 
session of  her,  with  the  ofiicers  as  prisoners,  but  to 
allow  the  crew  to  laud.  He  also  ordered  the  ship 
burned. 

The  prisoners  on  board  the  "Beaufort"  requested 
that  they  be  allowed  to  transfer  their  wounded  from 
the  "Congress,"  which  request  was  granted;  but,  vio- 
lating their  plighted  honor,  they  never  returned. 
An  attempt  was  now  made  to  burn  the  "  Congress," 
which  was  prevented  by  the  fire  from  the  batteries  on 
the  shore.  At  this  failure  Captain  Buchanan  opened 
upon  her  with  hot  shot,  and  about  midnight  the  citi- 
zens of  Norfolk  were  awakened  by  the  explosion  of 
her  magazine,  and  all  that  was  left  of  the  "  Con- 
gress "  were  the  scattered  fragments  floating  upon 
the  sea. 


72  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

Captain  Buchanan  having  been  severely  wounded, 
Lieutenant  Catesby  Jones  assumed  command,  and  at 
eight  o'clock  the  next  morning  the  "  Virginia  "  sailed 
out  to  engage  the  new  Federal  iron-clad,  the  "  Mon- 
itor." The  latter  had  the  advantage  in  smallness 
of  size,  and  consequently  of  lighter  draft  and  rapid- 
ity of  movement.  For  two  hours  these  two  vessels 
poured  a  terrible  fire  into  each  other.  Once  the  "  Vir- 
ginia "  ran  aground,  and,  being  under  the  double 
fire  of  both  the  "Monitor"  and  the  "Minnesota," 
seemed  to  be  in  desperate  straits;  but  the  crew 
managed  to  extricate  her,  and  again  turned  her  bat- 
teries upon  the  enemy.  After  having  disabled  the 
"  Minnesota,"  and  twice  silenced  the  fire  of  the  "  Mon- 
itor," she  put  back  to  Norfolk. 

These  exploits  of  the  "Virginia"  created  great  ex- 
citement, both  at  the  North  and  in  Europe,  and  the 
immediate  effect  was  that  within  five  days  after  their 
defeat  at  Hampton  Roads  the  Federal  Government 
had  appropriated  fifteen  million  dollars  for  the  build- 
ing of  irou-clads. 


-^§^fe 


Battle 'between  the  "Monitor"  and  the  "  !?.IciTimac." 


(72) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Generals  Van  Dorn  and  Sibley  in  the  West. 

AT  the  close  of  the  year  1861  General  Price  had 
occupied  Springfield  with  the  purpose  of  be- 
ing within  reach  o£  supplies  and  of  protecting  that 
part  of  the  State.  In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1862, 
the  Federals  were  massing  large  numbers — first  at 
Eolla  and  afterward  at  Lebanon.  Perceiving  that 
their  purpose  was  to  move  against  him  with  largely 
superior  forces,  he  requested  aid  from  the  divisions  in 
Arkansas.  According  to  expectation,  on  the  12th  of 
February  the  Federals  attacked  him,  forcing  a  retreat 
from  Springfield.  The  enemy  followed  in  close  pur- 
suit, so  that  the  retreat  to  Cross  Hollows,  Ark.,  was 
virtually  a  running  fight  of  five  days,  for  the  Confed- 
erates had  to  make  their  way  through  by  repulsing 
the  attacks  of  the  enemy  at  every  point. 

General  Van  Dorn  was  appointed  by  President 
Davis  to  take  command  of  the  forces  in  the  West. 
Consequently,  hearing  of  General  Price's  retreat  from 
Springfield,  he  moved  from  his  own  position  at  Po- 
cahontas, Ark.,  and  on  the  3d  of  March  took  charge 
of  the  united  forces  of  Generals  Price  and  McCul- 

lough. 

(73) 


74  the  civil  war.  1sg2. 

Battle  of  Elk  Horn. 

The  Federals,  twenty  thousand  strong,  under  Gen- 
erals Sigel  and  Curtis,  were  resting  at  Sugar  Creek, 
waiting  for  further  re-enforcements.  Having  been 
joined  by  General  Pike  with  his  command  of  Indian 
troops,  on  the  4th  of  March  General  Van  Dorn,  with 
a  force  sixteen  thousand  strong,  took  up  his  march 
in  the  direction  of  Sugar  Creek  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
tacking the  Federals. 

On  the  morning  of  the  7th  the  battle  began,  and  by 
eleven  o'clock  it  was  being  fought  in  real  earnest,  and 
by  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Confederates  were 
on  the  point  of  a  complete  and  decisive  victory,  when 
both  Generals  Mcintosh  and  McCullough  were  killed. 
Notwithstanding  this  irreparable  loss  and  the  con- 
fusion necessarily  resulting  to  the  soldiers  from 
the  death  of  their  commanders.  General  Van  Dorn 
continued  to  press  the  enemy,  so  that  when  darkness 
put  an  end  to  the  battle  he  had  gained  possession  of 
their  intrenchments,  together  with  a  large  amount  of 
commissary  stores.  Having  recuperated  themselves 
during  the  night,  the  enemy  renewed  the  contest  on 
the  morning  of  the  8th.  General  Van  Dorn  contin- 
ued the  fight  until  after  nine  o'clock,  when  he  began 
to  withdraw  his  forces  in  the  direction  of  his  sup- 
plies. The  enemy  attempting  to  follow  were  checked 
at  once,  and  the  retreat  was  conducted  with  the  great- 
est  success,    and    besides   the  Confederates  carried 


18G2.  VAN  DORN  AND  SIBLEY  IN  THE  WEST.  75 

away  with  tliem  300  prisoDers,  four  cannons,  and  three 
baggage  -  wagons.  They  lost  about  600  in  killed 
and  wounded,  while  the  Federal  loss  is  conjectured 
to  have  been  fully  double  that  number,  though  it  is 
not  officially  known.  When  the  character  of  the 
equipment  and  training  of  the  two  armies  is  relative- 
ly considered,  the  success  of  the  Confederates  was 
all  the  more  a  matter  of  congratulation,  for  they  were 
poorly  armed  with  old  shotguns  and  rifles,  and  com- 
pletely without  military  drill,  while  the  Federals 
were  well  disciplined  and  furnished  with  the  latest 
improved  weapons. 

In  the  Far  AVest. 

After  a  long  march  of  nearly  two  hundred  miles 
from  Arizona,  General  Sibley,  with  two  thousand 
three  hundred  troops,  found  himself  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Fort  Craig,  in  which  were  Union  troops  to 
the  number  of  six  thousand — one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred American  soldiers  and  about  five  thousand  Mex- 
icans. Having  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  River  three 
miles  above  the  fort,  that  portion  of  his  troops — about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  in  number — under  Colonel 
Pryor  first  came  in  contact  with  the  enemy.  This 
division  alone  for  over  an  hour  sustained  their  inces- 
sant fire  until  the  rest  of  the  troops  came  up.  The 
enemy  then  moved  their  whole  line  forward,  but  were 
driven  back.     With  a  second  attack,  however,  they 


76  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

t 

forced  the  Confederates  to  retreat  and  take  up  a  new- 
position.  Thinking  that  they  had  won  the  day,  the 
enemy  moved  their  battery  across  the  river,  which 
was  no  sooner  done  than  the  Confederates  charged 
them,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Teel's  Battery  drove 
them  in  great  confusion  from  their  guns,  forcing  them 
to  cross  the  river.  In  this  battle  of  Valverde  (March 
21)  our  forces  lost  38  killed  and  120  wounded,  while 
the  enemy  gave  their  loss  as  300  killed,  400  wounded, 
and  2,000  missing.  The  Confederates  continued  their 
victorious  march,  forcing  the  Federals  to  evacuate 
both  Albuquerque  and  Santa  Fe,  and  to  retreat  to 
Fort  Union,  a  strong  fortification  sixty  miles  north- 
east of  Santa  Fe. 


CHAPTER  IX, 

Island  No.  Ten— Shiloh— New  Orleans. 

ON  the  15th  of  March  the  Federal  fleet  of  gun- 
boats, under  the  command  of  Flag-ofl&cer  Foote, 
began  the  bombardment  of  Island  No.  Ten,  which  had 
been  fortified  with  great  skill  by  General  Beauregard. 
An  incessant  and  ceaseless  cannonading  was  kept  up 
between  the  gun-boats  and  the  batteries  until  April 
8  without  giving  any  convincing  sign  of  victory 
to  either  side;  but  the  people  of  the  South  were 
strengthened  by  daily  reports  from  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion that  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for  the  Federal 
forces  to  take  the  fort.  Under  these  circumstances, 
on  the  5th  General  Beauregard  left  to  take  charge  of 
operations  on  the  Tennessee  River,  and  the  command 
of  the  island  devolved  upon  General  MaCall,  who 
allowed  the  enemy  to  construct  a  canal  twelve  miles 
long  across  the  peninsula  at  New  Madrid.  This  ca- 
nal gave  them  possession  of  the  river  below  the  island. 
Then,  in  order  to  avoid  surrender,  with  the  infantry 
and  Stewart's  Battery,  General  MaCall,  on  the  night 
of  April  6,  managed  to  reach  the  Tennessee  shore, 
leaving  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  seventy  cannons, 
large  quantities  of  ammunition,  the  floating  batteries, 

and  four  steamers. 

(77) 


78  the  civil  wae.  1802. 

The  Great  Battle  of  Shiloh. 

In  massing  all  of  his  forces  at  Corinth  General 
Beauregard's  purpose  was  to  cut  off  the  enemy's  com- 
munication between  the  South  and  East.  Here  he 
assembled  a  magnificent  army — the  very  flower  and 
chivalry  of  the  South.  General  Johnston  moved  from 
Murfreesboro  and  joined  him  here;  also  two  divisions 
of  General  Polk's  forces  at  Columbus,  together  with 
several  regiments  of  troops  from  Louisiana  and  a 
force  from  Mobile;  consequently  few  battle-fields  of 
the  South  witnessed  such  a  gathering  of  men,  both  as 
to  their  number,  the  quality  of  the  troops,  and  the 
character  of  their  discipline. 

General  Grant  occupied  a  position  at  Pittsburg 
Landing,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  General  Buell,  Avho 
was  rapidly  hastening  from  Nashville  to  join  him. 
To  strike  the  enemy  at  once,  and  thereby  prevent  the 
effectiveness  of  this  junction  by  a  victory  before  it 
could  be  accomplished,  was  the  purpose  of  General 
Beauregard.  In  keeping  with  his  plan,  he  began  the 
disposition  of  his  troops  on  Thursday,  the  3d  of  April, 
expecting  to  make  the  attack  on  Saturday,  but  the 
condition  of  the  roads  was  such  as  to  make  progress 
so  slow  that  one  day  was  lost  in  the  preparation,  and 
a  fatal  day  it  was!  After  skirmishing  somewhat  late 
Saturday  evening,  the  great  battle  was  opened  early 
Sunday  morning,  April  6,  by  General  Hardee  advanc- 
ing against  the  camp  of  the  enemy  and  taking  them 


1862.   ISLAND  NO.  TEN— SHILOH — NEW  ORLEANS.     79 

by  surprise,  finding  them  undressed  and  in  the  prep- 
aration of  breakfast.  However,  they  quickly  formed 
to  meet  our  forces,  which  were  advancing  in  three 
lines,  with  General  Hardee  commanding  the  front, 
General  Bragg  the  center,  and  General  Polk  the  rear. 
With  the  driving  in  of  the  pickets,  a  sublime  artillery 
duel  began  the  work  of  death,  and  the  coolness  and 
splendid  composure  of  the  raw  recruits  of  the  Con- 
federates under  this  test  gave  a  prophecy  of  the 
magnificent  courage  which  they  displayed  on  that 
memorable  day.  Eising  from  the  ground  upon  which 
they  were  lying  that  the  discharges  of  the  artillery 
might  pass  over,  they  rushed  forward,  crushing  ev- 
ery thing  before  them  with  the  force  of  a  hurricane. 
Broken  in  ranks,  the  enemy  rallied  behind  trees  and 
in  the  underbrush,  only  to  be  again  repulsed  and 
driven  back.  The  scenery  is  described  as  follows: 
"  Far  up  in  the  air  shells  burst  into  flames  like  shat- 
tered stars,  and  passed  away  in  little  clouds  of  white 
vapor;  while  others  filled  the  air  with  a  shrill  scream, 
and  burst  far  in  the  rear.  All  along  the  line  the  faint 
smoke  of  the  musketry  rose  lightly,  while  from  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon  sudden  gusts  of  intense  white 
smoke  burst  up  all-  around." 

The  attack  of  the  Confederates  was  compared  by 
General  Beauregard,  in  Jiis  official  report  of  the  bat- 
tle, to  an  "Alpine  avalanche."  Inspiring  examples 
of  personal  valor  displayed  by  general  and  field  offi- 


80  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

cers  made  the  Confederate  soldiers  invincible.  At 
half-past  two  General  Johnston,  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Confederate  forces,  fell  mortally  wounded. 
Riding  up  to  him.  Governor  Harris,  who  was  a  volun- 
teer aid,  asked  if  ho  was  badly  hurt,  to  which  the 
dying  hero  replied:  "Yes;  and  I  fear  mortally."  Ho 
fell  from  his  horse,  and  soon  expired.  This  sad  af- 
fair was  prudently  kept  from  the  army.  The  Con- 
federates still  continued  to  push  the  enemy  to  the 
Tennessee  Eiver,  and  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
the  last  position  was  carried.  The  fruits  of  this  vic- 
tory were  great.  The  Confederates  were  in  posses- 
sion of  all  the  encampments  of  the  enemy  between 
Owl  and  Lick  Eivers.  On  Sunday  General  Beaure- 
gard established  his  head-quarters  at  the  little  church 
at  Shiloh.  The  soldiers  slept  on  their  arms.  The 
situation  of  both  armies  was  critical,  but  General 
Grant  was  relieved  by  the  glistening  bayonets  of 
Buell  across  the  river.  On  seeing  them  he  was  heard 
to  remark  to  one  of  his  officers:  "To-morrow  they 
will  be  exhausted,  and  then  we'll  give  it  to  them  with 
fresh  troops."  General  Buell  advanced,  and  was 
hailed  to  the  field  of  slaughter  with  cheers.  Tlie 
battle  again  began  to  rage  with  fury;  hour  by  hour 
the  terrible  struggle  continued.  With  fresh  troops 
they  constantly  thinned  the  ranks  of  our  worn-out 
soldiers.  To  avert  further  sacrifice  of  human  life 
General  Beauregard  determined  to  withdraw,  since 


18G2.   ISLAND  XO.  TEN — SHILOH — NEW  ORLEANS.     81 

it  was  impossible  to  contend  against  such  heavy  re- 
enforcements — all  fresh  troops.  Approaching  Gen- 
eral Breckinridge,  he  said:  "General  Breckinridge, 
it  may  be  you  will  have  to  sacrifice  your  life;  this 
retreat  must  not  be  a  rout:  you  must  hold  the  enemy 
if  it  takes  your  last  man."  "Your  orders  shall  be 
executed,"  said  the  chivalrous  Breckinridge.  "Our 
poor  boys  are  weary  and  hungry,  yet  we  can  trust 
them."  They  stood  guard,  and  closely  watched  the 
enemy,  who  decided  not  to  try  the  contest  again  for 
awhile,  so  badly  had  they  been  whipped;  for  they  had 
lost  nearly  all  of  their  artillery,  over  three  thousand 
prisoners,  including  a  division  commander  (General 
Prentiss),  several  brigade  commanders,  an  immense 
supply  of  subsistence  and  ammunition,  and  a  large 
amount  of  means  of  transportation.  Against  the  Con- 
federates were  engaged  the  commands  of  Generals 
Prentiss,  Sherman,  Hurlburt,  Smith,  and  McCler- 
nand — all  told,  forty-five  thousand  finely  equipped 
men.  The  Confederate  forces  consisted  of  thirty- 
eight  thousand.  From  their  almost  reckless  daring, 
the  Confederates  suffered  much  in  the  loss  of  officers. 
General  Gladden,  of  South  Carolina,  fell  mortally 
wounded;  also  Governor  George  W.  Johnson,  of  Ken- 
tucky, while  engaged  in  the  thickest  of  the  battle; 
General  Bray  had  two  horses  shot  from  under  him; 
General  Breckinridge  was  twice  struck;  Major-gen- 
eral Hardee  had  his  coat  torn  by  minie-balls;  Gen- 


82  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

eral  Clieatliam  received  one  in  the  shoulder;  General 
Buslirod  Johnson  uas  wounded  in  the  side;  Colonel 
Adams,  of  Louisiana,  Colkit  Williams,  of  Memphis, 
and  General  William  B.  Bate,  of  Tennessee,  received 
severe  injuries;  and  Colonel  Blythe,  of  Mississippi, 
•was  among  the  killed.  Our  loss  in  this  terrible 
slaughter  was  10,699,  while  the  Federal  loss  was 
15,000.  General  Beauregard  retiied  to  Corinth  as 
a  strategic  point,  where  Generals  Van  Dorn  and 
Price  united  their  forces  with  his. 

Fall  of  New  Orleans. 

New  Orleans  was  considered  impregnable.  The 
forts  of  Jackson  and  St.  Philips  were  only  looked 
upon  as  outer  lines  of  defense.  The  city  was  occu- 
pied by  a  large  force  under  General  Lovell,  and  in 
its  harbor  was  a  fleet  consisting  of  twelve  gun-boats, 
one  iron-clad  steamer,  and  the  famous  ram  "Manas- 
sas." The  enemy's  fleet  engaged  was  forty-six  sail, 
carrying  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  guns  and  twen- 
ty-one mortars,  the  whole  under  the  command  of 
Admiral  Farragut.  On  the  24th  of  April  the  Federal 
fleet  opened  fire  on  the  boats,  which  was  vigorously 
returned.  In  one  hour  several  of  their  boats  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  the  forts,  the  first  one  having  our 
"  night  signal "  flying,  which  allowed  her  to  pass  the 
Confederate  batteries  unmolested.  On  receiving  the 
news  the  whole  city  was  thrown  into  intense  excite- 


(83) 


Destruction  of  Cotton  at  the  Taking  of  New  Orleans. 


1862.  ISLAND  NO.  TEN— SHILOH— NEW  ORLEANS.    83 

meut.  The  conflict  between  the  two  fleets  was  of  a 
dreadful  character.  The  Confederates  fought  with 
desperation  against  the  overwhelming  numbers  until 
their  vessels  were  driven  on  shore  and  burned  by 
their  commanders.  The  "  Manassas  "  was  sunk,  and 
the  great  iron-clad,  "Louisiana,"  was  not  in  good 
working  order.  General  Lovell  withdrew  his  army 
to  save  the  city  from  destruction.  The  evacuation 
was  begun  April  24.  As  soon  as  the  Federal  fleet 
came  in  sight  of  the  city  the  work  of  destruction  be^ 
gan.  For  five  miles  along  the  river  on  the  levee  the 
cotton  was  piled  and  burned.  Great  ships  and  steam- 
ers wrapped  in  fire  floated  down  the  river.  Fifteen 
thousand  bales  of  cotton  were  consumed.  The  city 
was  left  under  charge  of  Mayor  Monroe.  The  people 
were  heart-broken  when  General  Butler  took  posses- 
sion May  1. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Gallant  Defense  of  Richmond. 

TURNING  now  for  a  brief  glance  at  civil  affairs, 
the  Government  at  Washington — exasperated  by 
the  prolongation  of  a  war  which  they  thought  they 
would  be  able  to  end  in  a  few  weeks,  astonished  at  the 
success  of  Confederate  arms,  and  alarmed  at  Mac- 
Clellan's  failure  to  take  Richmond;  yielding  to  the 
popular  clamor — determined  upon  extreme  measures. 
Consequently  the  Secretary  of  War  issued  instruc- 
tions to  the  commanding  generals  to  seize  upon  any 
and  all  private  property,  and  to  make  complete  use 
of  it,  without  any  compensation  whatever. 

At  the  South  the  Government  began  to  despair  of 
foreign  recognition.  In  fact,  the  disaster  at  New 
Orleans  put  an  end  to  all  their  hopes  in  this  respect. 
The  rapidly  increasing  numbers  of  the  enemy, 
drawn  from  every  State  in  Europe,  made  necessary 
a  change  in  the  manner  of  recruiting  troops.  There- 
fore, in  May,  1862,  the  conscript  law  was  passed; 
which — while  it  created  a  considerable  amount  of  op- 
position among  the  people,  inasmuch  as  they  consid- 
ered it  a  reflection  upon  themselves — reorganized  the 
army  and  furnished  a  regular,  systematic  method  of 

filling  the  depleted  ranks. 
(84) 


1862.  gallant  defense  of  richmond.  85 

Kebnstown— Jackson  Eepulsed. 

On  the  23d  of  March  we  find  the  ever  active  Jack- 
son attacking  the  Federals  at  Kernstown,  a  place  near 
Winchester,  Va.,  with  about  six  thousand  troops, 
among  ^hich  was  Captain  McLaughlin's  Battery, 
with  Colonel  Ashby's  Cavalry.  The  battle  continued 
from  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  until  darkness  set 
in,  when  General  Jackson  fell  back  to  Cedar  Creek, 
having  sustained  a  loss  of  one  hundred  in  killed 
and  wounded.  Of  this  retreat  the  Federal  General 
Shields  said:  "Such  was  the  gallantry  of  the  Con- 
federates and  their  high  state  of  discipline  that  at  no 
time  during  the  retreat  did  they  give  way  to  panic." 

With  the  Federal  forces  enveloping  Richmond, 
both  from  the  land  and  from  the  river,  vigorous  and 
active  operations  on  the  part  of  the  Confederates  now 
became  necessary.  But  their  anxiety  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  water  was  relieved  somewhat  by  the  brill- 
iant repulse  of  the  enemy's  gun-boats,  in  their  attack 
upon  the  batteries  at  Drewry's  BlufP,  which  were  un- 
der the  command  of  Captain  Farrand.  Here,  May 
15,  they  were  driven  back  with  great  loss  of  life. 

Jackson's  Successes  in  the  Valley. 

To  draw  off,  if  possible,  the  overwhelming  concen- 
tration of  forces  which  was  taking  place  immediately 
around  the  city  General  Jackson  was  sent  into  the 
Valley  of  Virginia,  with  a  small  division,  and  he  im- 


86  '  THE   CIVIL  WAIl.  1862. 

mediately  began  that  series  of  wonderful  military 
exploits  that  have  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of 
earth's  great  captains.  Consequently,  on  May  8,  he 
proceeded  to  attack  General  Milroy,  with  twelve 
thousand  troops,  at  McDowell.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon Jackson— outnumbered  thrice  by  the  enemy — 
began  the  contest,  which  was  decisively  ended  by  the 
irresistible  charge  of  Johnson's  Brigade  (Virginia 
Volunteers  ^nd  the  Twelfth  Georgia  Regiment),  and 
jast  at  the  going  doAvn  of  the  sun  the  Federals  fled 
in  complete  confusion  from  the  field.  This  was  a 
costly  victory  to  Jackson,  in  that  he  lost  fully  three 
hundred  and  fifty,  killed  and  wounded.  The  enemy 
are  conjectured  to  have  lost  something  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  seveu  hundred. 

With  characteristic  energy,  he  did  not  wait  for  the 
Federals  to  move  against  himself,  but  with  raj)id 
marches  he  astounded  the  Federal  General  Banks 
by  falling  upon  that  portion  of  his  forces  stationed 
at  Front  lioyal,  and  taking  a  quantity  of  artillery 
and  fourteen  hundred  prisoners,  May  23.  General 
Banks,  thoroughly  alarmed,  fled  toward  Winchester, 
and  was  further  frightened  by  Jackson  striking  his 
retreating  column  in  the  rear.  May  24.  However, 
the  Federal  forces  managed  to  reach  Winchester, 
only  to  be  again  struck,  on  the  25th,  by  their  terrible 
enemy.  So  completely  were  they  demoralized  that 
they  hardly  made  any  resistance,  and  only  succeeded 


18G2. 


GALLANT  DEFENSE  OF  RICHMOND.  87 


in  escaping  by  a  superior  running  ability,  which  the 
Federal  commander  virtually  admits  in  his  report, 
when  he  says:  "  Pursuit  by  the  enemy  was  prompt 
and  vigorous;  but  our  movements  were  rapid."  These 
victories  were  very  profitable  to  the  Confederates,  in 
that  they  only  lost  a  few  men  and  captured  four 
thousand  prisoners  and  a  vast  quantity  of  supplies. 

Jackson  Defeats  the  Federals  at  Port  Eepublic. 

Retaining  possession  of  his  booty.  General  Jack- 
son fell  back  from  Winchester  between  the  two  forces 
of  Fremont  and  Shields  —  the  former  numbering 
twenty  thousand  and  the  latter  ten  thousand.  He 
thence  directed  his  march  toward  Port  Republic,  and 
on  reaching  this  place  he  was  attacked  by  Fremont 
on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  8th  of  June,  while 
Shields's  Division  was  coming  upon  the  other  bank 
(east)  of  the  Shenandoah  Piver.  Thus,  so  to  speak, 
between  two  fires,  he  left  that  portion  of  his  troops 
under  General  Ewell  to  engage  Fremont,  while,  with 
the  remainder,  he  kept  Shields  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river. 

Holding  a  superior  position,  and  displaying  a  re- 
markably good  judgment  in  the  management  of  the 
fight,  when  night  came  it  was  found  that  General 
Ewell  had  driven  tlie  Federals  back,  with  a  loss  of 
two  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded,  while  his  own 
loss  was  less  than  two  hundred. 


88  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1862, 

Under  cover  of  darkaess  Jackson  moved  his  forces 
across  North  River,  leaving  only  a  few  behind  to 
prevent  Fremont  from  following  him  immediately. 
Tlierefore,  early  JNIonday  morning  he  began  his  at- 
iick  on  the  enemy,  who  were  waiting  to  receive  him 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Shenandoah.  At  first  Gen- 
eral Jackson  could  only  engage  the  Federals  with  a 
portion  of  his  forces,  as  the  rest  had  not  arrived  from 
Port  Republic.  So  well  directed  was  the  fire  of  the 
enemy  that  for  a  time  it  seemed  that  our  men  could 
not  stand  its  volleys  of  death,  which  were  then  fast 
thinning  their  ranks;  but  fresh  troops  from  Port  Re- 
public were  rapidly  coming  to  their  assistance.  More- 
over, General  Taylor,  with  the  Louisiana  Brigade, 
surprised  the  enemy  by  coming  out  from  the  woods 
upon  them,  and  charging  right  upon  the  mouths  of 
their  cannon.  The  whole  line  of  the  enemy  now 
gave  way  and  broke  and  fled  in  disorder,  while  the 
Confederates  pursued  for  twelve  miles,  taking  five 
hundred  prisoners.  Our  loss  v»'as  considerable,  and 
among  the  dead  was  the  brave  and  chivalrous  Ashby, 
who,  after  his  second  horse  was  killed  under  him,  was 
leading  his  devoted  Virginians  on  foot,  when  he  was 
shot,  with  these  words  of  command  on  his  lips:  "  Men, 
cease  firing;  charge,  for  God's  sake  charge!  " 

Thus,  having  swept  the  enemy  completely  from  the 
valley,  Jackson  retired  to  Brown's  Gap  to  rest  his 
victorious  but  tired  legions  for  a  few  days. 


1862.  gallant  defense  of  richmond.  89 

Activities  on  the  Chickahominy. 

The  north  was  now  straining  every  energy  for  the 
capture  of  Kichraond,  and  had  put  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  MacClellan  a  magnificently  equipped 
army,  which  was  trying  to  encircle  the  city  with  its 
lines.  By  the  30th  of  May  General  Johnston  found 
the  enemy  in  front  of  him,  on  the  Chickahominy 
Eiver,  so  he  determined  to  attack  them  the  next  day 
at  dawn.  But  for  some  reason  General  Huger,  who 
had  been  ordered  to  support  Generals  Longstreet  and 
Hill,  failed  to  appear;  which  delay  kept  the  two  latter 
waiting  until  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  they 
opened  the  battle  without  his  expected  assistance. 
D.  H.  Hill's  brave  troops  charged  nobly  forward, 
penetrating  the  enemy's  camp  and  driving  them  from 
each  new  line  of  intrenchments,  behind  which  they 
would  make  repeated  stands  when  re-enforced  by 
fresh  troops.  When  night  put  an  end  to  the  contest, 
while  the  victory  was  thoroughly  complete  in  this 
quarter,  the  enemy  having  been  driven  for  two  miles, 
yet  it  was  found  that  they  had  managed  to  hold  their 
position  on  the  right;  but  there  was  every  indication 
that  darkness  only  saved  them  from  the  same  defeat 
which  their  line  suffered  at  other  points. 

In  this  battle  our  loss  was  a  little  over  four  thou- 
sand. To  compensate  for  this,  the  enemy  lost  eight 
thousand  men,  ten  pieces  of  artillery,  and  six  thou- 
sand muskets. 


90  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

General  Johnston  having  been  wounded,  the  com- 
mand of  the  Confederate  forces  for  the  defense  of 
Eichmond  devolved  upon  General  Lee. 

On  the  morning  of  June  1  the  enemy  made  an  at- 
tack upon  our  lines,  but  after  some  hard  fighting  were 
repulsed  with  considerable  loss.  , 

Mechanicsville— Malvern  Hill. 

The  enemy  had  so  posted  and  arranged  their  forces 
along  the  course  of  the  Chickahominy  that  their  line 
extended  fully  twenty  miles  on  both  sides  of  this 
stream,  with  the  purpose  of  threatening  Eichmond 
with  a  siege. 

That  series  of  splendid  battles  along  this  now  cele- 
brated little  stream  was  begun  by  General  Jackson, 
Thursday,  June  26,  driving  a  portion  of  the  enemy 
from  the  north  bank,  near  the  Brooke  Turnpike. 

General  A.  P.  Hill  had  crossed  the  river  at  Meadow 
Bridge;  and  at  Mechanicsville,  without  waiting  for 
General  Branch,  who  was  trying  to  join  him,  he 
hurled  his  column  of  fourteen  thousand  men  against 
the  enemy,  who  resisted  stubbornly  until  night  pat 
an  end  to  the  conflict,  when  they  retreated  down  the 
stream  to  Powhite  Swamp. 

On  Friday,  with  General  A.  P.  Hill  in  the  center, 
and  Generals  Longstreet  and  D.  H.  Hill  coming 
down  the  Chickaliominy,  and  General  Jackson  to- 
ward the  left  at  some  distance,  an  advance  movement 


18G2.  GALLANT  DEFENSE  OF  RICHMOND.  91 

was  made  against  the  enemy.  The  Confederates 
rushed  furiously  to  the  attack,  and  by  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening  they  had  succeeded  in  pushing  the 
shattered  forces  of  the  enemy  from  the  north  to  the 
south  side  of  the  Chickahominy. 

A  feature  of  this  day's  fight  worthy  of  relating  in 
detail  was  the  brilliant  assault  of  General  A.  P.  Hill 
upon  that  portion  of  the  Federals  stationed  at 
Gaines's  Mills.  The  fortifications  at  this  point  were 
strong  and  well  constructed,  so  that  the  enemy  were 
able  to  resist  his  repeated  attacks  until  he  was  sup- 
ported by  General  Pickett's  Brigade,  from  General 
Longstreet's  Division.  Even  with  these,  matters 
Avere  in  doubt  until  Whiting's  Division  made  a  mas- 
terly "  double-quick  "  charge,  and,  by  superior  valor, 
drove  the  enemy  from  defenses  which  they  ought  to 
have  been  able  to  maintain  against  almost  any  force. 

Thus,  having  been  defeated  at  almost  all  their 
strongholds  on  the  north  bank,  with  communications 
with  Washington  cut  off,  the  Chickahominy  barring 
their  way  in  front.  Generals  Longstreet,  Magruder, 
and  Huger  pressing  close  upon  their  rear,  it  seenied 
that  escape  for  the  enemy  was  hopeless.  However, 
on  Sunday  morning  it  was  discovered  that  they  had 
deserted  their  fortifications  in  confusion,  and  had 
massed  their  forces  five  miles  north-east  of  Darby- 
town,  at  a  place  known  as  Frazier's  Farrft.  Finding 
them  in  this  position,  on  Monday  the  forces  of  Gen- 


92  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


1862. 


erals  Longstreet  and  Hill  moved  forward  unsupport- 
ed by  a  single  battery  of  artillery,  while  the  enemy 
received  them  with  a  terrible  fire  from  both  infantry 
and  artillery.  With  as  brilliant  a  courage  as  had 
ever  illustrated  the  annals  of  any  war,  the  Confeder- 
ates continued  their  advance  in  the  midst  of  a  perfect 
storm  of  shot  and  shell,  gradually  driving  the  Feder- 
als back,  until  by  half-past  eight  in  the  evening  they 
were  in  possession  of  their  guns  and  fortifications. 
Darkness  did  not  check  the  victorious  advance  of  the 
Confederates,  for  they  still  continued  to  press  the 
enemy  until  the  latter  were  heavily  re-enforced. 
From  their  hard  struggle  of  the  day  the  Confeder- 
ates were  already  tired  and  worn  out.  Consequently 
they  slowly  retreated  before  these  fresh  troops.  With 
cheers  the  now  exultant  enemy  followed  them;  but 
once  more,  with  knightly  courage,  the  Confederates 
gathered  together  their  flagging  energies,  and  beat 
the  overconfident  Federals  back.  At  eleven  o'clock 
General  Magruder's  Division  arrived,  and  occupied 
the  battle-field,  giving  General  Hill's  exhausted  he- 
roes an  opportunity  for  a  much-needed  rest. 

On  Tuesday  the  Federals  again  took  up  their  re- 
treat, and  were  followed  by  General  Magruder,  who 
came  up  with  them  strongly  intrenched  on  Carter's 
Farm.  Just  one  hour  later  he  attacked  them;  but 
after  repeated  charges  in  the  very  face  of  death  it- 
self, both  from  the  guns  of  the  enemy  in  front  and 


18G2.  GALLANT  DEFENSE  OF  EICHMOND.  93 

from  the  huge  shells  that  were  sent  from  their  gun- 
boats in  the  river,  two  miles  distant,  he  was  forced  to 
fall  back  in  the  darkness,  giving  the  Federals  a  chance 
to  continue  their  retreat  through  the  swamps. 

In  this  battle,  known  as  Malvern  Hill,  the  Confed- 
erates added  another  page  to  their  glorious  record  for 
courage  and  endurance  by  a  frightful  loss  of  life. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
A  Series  of  Important  Events. 

JUST  when  the  two  great  armies  in  Northern  Vir- 
ginia were  marshaling  their  forces  for  the  great 
conflicts  on  the  Chickahominy,  further  South  an  in- 
spiring victory  was  gained  by  the  Confederates.  At 
Secessionville,  on  James  Island,  near  Charleston,  S. 
C,  a  large  force  of  the  enemy  made  an  attack  on  the 
intrenchments  of  Colonel  J.  G.  Lamar.  Three  times 
they  charged  the  works,  beginning  at  four  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  June  16,  but  each  time  they  were 
driven  back  with  great  loss,  and  by  ten  o'clock  they 
retired  in  great  confusion,  leaving  behind  them  four 
hundred  killed  and  wounded  and  prisoners. 

After  Shiloh,  General  Beauregard,  with  forty-seven 
thousand  troops,  had  intrenched  himself  at  Corinth, 
Miss.,  where  he  tried  in  vain  to  get  the  ninety  thou- 
sand of  the  enemy  to  attack  him.  Failing  in  this,  on 
the  morning  of  the  30th  of  May  he  evacuated  Corinth, 
and  successfully  retreated  to  Baldwin;  thence  on  the 
7th  of  June  he  moved  his  forces  to  Tupelo,  a  more 
advantageous  position. 

The  enemy  continued  their  successes  on  the  Mis- 

sissipppi  River  by  taking  Memphis,  Tenn.,  June  6. 
(94) 


1862.  A  SERIES  OF  IMPORTANT  EVENTS.  95 

Tlieu  tliey  turned  their  attention  to  Yicksburg,  Miss., 
but  here  their  navy,  hitlierto  invincible,  met  an  un- 
expected repulse.  After  a  siege  of  six  weeks,  during 
which  time  they  threw  twenty-five  thousand  shells 
into  the  city,  they  abandoned  their  fruitless  efforts 
against  it. 

Between  the  4th  and  28th  of  July  General  John 
Morgan  effected  that  famous  raid  of  his  which  re-, 
fleeted  so  much  credit  upon  the  prowess  of  Southern 
cavalry.  Setting  out  from  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  with 
rangers  from  Georgia,  Texas,  and  Tennessee,  he 
pushed  his  forces  right  into  the  midst  of  a  country 
infested  on  all  sides  by  the  enemy,  creating  the  great- 
est consternation  and  fear,  taking  from  them  seven- 
teen of  the  Kentucky  towns  that  had  fallen  into  their 
possession,  capturing  a  large  number  of  prisoners 
with  three  thousand  stands  of  arms  at  Lebanon,  Ky., 
and  then  returning  to  his  original  starting-place  with 
a  loss  of  less  than  one  hundred  men. 

With  this  brief  summary  of  military  operations  in 
the  West,  attention  is  again  turned  to  those  ever  in- 
teresting scenes  in  Virginia  which  have  made  every 
foot  of  this  historic  old  Commonwealth  a  battle- 
ground and  a  Confederate  victory,  through  which  the 
military  student  of  all  after  times  may  find  illustrated 
the  highest  ideals  of  his  art  and  the  loftiest  examples 
of  soldierly  courage  and  endurance.  On  the  23d  of 
July  General  Pope  signalized  his  transfer  from  the 


96  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18C2. 

West  to  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  by  issuing  an 
order  to  the  effect  that  all  citizens  within  his  lines 
who  would  not  take  the  oath  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
*raent  should  be  considered  spies,  and  as  such  should 
be  subjected  to  the  extremest  penalties  of  military 
laws;  and  that  any  one  who  had  violated  this  oath 
should  be  shot  and  Jiis  property  confiscated.  A  fur- 
ther order,  equally  cruel  in  its  provisions,  Avas  issued. 
The  purpose  of  this  law  was  to  hold  certain  prom- 
inent citizens  as  hostages,  to  be  shot  in  case  any  Fed- 
eral soldier  should  be  killed  by  the  so-called  "  bush- 
whackers." In  other  words,  should  any  Southern 
citizen,  in  exercising  the  sacred  prerogatives  of  his 
manhood,  attempt  to  defend  the  threshold  of  his 
home  against  the  robber  or  the  assassin,  and  in  this 
attempt  should  slay  the  violator  of  his  household 
gods,  then  his  friend  and  neighbor,  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  would  pay  the  penalty  with  his  life. 

Pope  now  took  up  his  line  of  march  toward  the  in- 
terior of  Virginia,  and  succeeded  in  penetrating  to 
a  point  as  far  as  ten  miles  east  of  Port  Kepublic. 
Against  this  movement  General  Jackson  was  sent. 
On  hearing  that  the  latter  had  crossed  the  Rapidan, 
Pope  sent  General  Banks  to  put  a  check  upon  him. 
On  the  morning  of  August  12  General  Ewell's  Di- 
vision moved  forward  and  took  a  position  at  Culpep- 
per Court-house,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  they  opened 
upon  the  enemy  with  their  artillery.     At  four  o'clock 


18G2.  A  SERIES  OF  IMPORTANT  EVENTS.  97 

in  the  afternoon  the  battle  was  begun  in  real  earnest 
by  the  attack  of  General  Early's  Brigade  upon  the 
right  flank  of  the  enemy.  The  brave  General  Win- 
der perished  as  he  was  leading  Jackson's  Division 
into  action.  The  enemy  now  took  the  aggressive  by  , 
charging  through  an  open  corn-field  with  their  cav- 
alry, which  produced  a  temporary  confusion;  but  the 
Confederates  soon  recovered  themselves,  and  turned 
such  an  effective  fire  upon  them  that  many  a  horse 
went  back  riderless  to  the  Federal  lines,  followed  by 
the  remainder  of  the  cavalry  in  the  greatest  confu- 
sion. For  two  hours  the  battle  raged,  victory  inclin- 
ing first  to  one  side,  then  to  the  other,  until  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night  began  to  thrown  its  black  mantle 
over  a  scene  fraught  with  more  than  the  usual  amount 
of  horrors  that  characterize  a  contest  in  which  men 
strive  with  each  other  in  all  the  bitterness  of  a  deadly 
straggle,  when  the  Federals  broke  and  took  to  the 
shelter  of  the  woods,  lefiving  the  Confederates  in  pos- 
session of  the  sanguinary  field  of  Cedar  Mountain, 
upgn  which  were  nearly  two  thousand  Federal  dead 
and  wounded  and  six  hundred  of  the  Confederates. 
But  the  Confederates  also  had  in  their  possession  five 
hundred  prisoners,  one  thousand  five  hundred  stands 
of  arms,  one  dozen  wagon-loads  of  ammunition,  two 
Napoleon  guns,  and  a  large  amount  of  excellent  new 
clothing. 

The  Federal  Government  now  felt  that  there  was 
7- 


98  TEE   CIVIL  WAK.  1SG2. 

an  imperative  demand  upon  them  to  do  something 
extraordinary,  i£  possible,  to  retrieve  those  disasters 
tliat  had  come  in  such  rapid  succession  around  Kich- 
mond;  consequently  they  proceeded  at  once  to  carry 
out  the  design  of  uniting  the  two  large  armies  of 
Pope  and  MacClellan.  Getting  knowledge  of  these 
designs,  General  Lee  rapidly  changed  the  position  of 
his  forces,  and  on  the  17th  of  August  held  them  in 
front  of  Pope  to  prevent  his  crossing  the  Rapidan. 

In  the  meanwhile,  by  a  rapid  march  of  two  days 
over  the  mountains,  the  brilliant  Jackson,  completely 
misleading  the  enemy,  had  succeeded  in  occupying 
Bristow  and  Manassas  Stations,  on  Wednesday,  Au- 
gust 27,  where  he  captured  many  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  supplies.  On  the  same  day  an  attack  was 
made  by  the  enemy  upon  both  positions.  General 
Taylor's  Brigade  of  Slocum's  Division  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  attacked  Manassas,  but  was  hurled 
back  in  a  disgraceful  and  thoroughly  disorganized 
retreat  toward  Centerville.  At  three  o'clock  Hook- 
er's Division  moved  against  General  Ewell  at  Bris- 
tow, forcing  him  back  across  the  Muddy  Eun.  By 
a  masterly  movement,  on  the  night  of  the  next  day. 
General  Jackson  succeeded  in  getting  an  advanta- 
geous' position  on  the  old  battle-field  of  Manassas— 
so  inspiring  from  its  memories  of  that  former  great 
victory,  which  was  soon  to  be  repeated  with  increased 
glory  to  Soutliern  arras.     Early  Friday  morning  Gen- 


1802. 


A  SERIES  OF  IMPORTANT  EVENTS.  99 


eral  Stuart  dispersed  the  enemy's  cavalry  near  Gaiues- 
ville,  on  the  Warreutou  Pike,  and  later  in  the  day 
General  Jackson  threw  his  forces  in  front  of  the  en- 
emy, who  were  evidently  advancing  to  attack  him, 
near  the  village  of  Groveton.  General  Longstreet,  in 
the  meantime,  in  order  to  join  his  division  with 
Jackson's,  had  to  force  his  passage  through  a  wild 
and  precipitous  mountain  pass  known  as  Thorough- 
fare Gap.  This  would  have  been  an  impossible  feat 
to  any  but  Southern  soldiers,  for  it  was  held  by  a 
force  of  two  thousand  of  the  enemy,  and  from  aid 
which  nature  gave,  with  the  rough  and  steep  sides 
and  narrow  pass-way,  this  gap  would  seem  completely 
impregnable,  with  even  half  the  number  which  the 
enemy  had  concentrated  there.  But  the  Confederates 
forced  their  way  and  accomplished  this  daring  under- 
taking with  less  than  half  a  dozen  men  wounded. 

The  enemy  begaii  the  fight  by  advancing  in  a  col- 
umn heavily  supported  by  artillery.  They  were  re- 
ceived by  E well's  Division,  who  reserved  their  fire 
until  the  enemy  were  close  upon  them,  when  they 
opened  with  terrible  effect,  creating  a  panic  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Federals,  which  was  further  increased 
by  the  artillery,  which  was  turned  upon  them  as  they 
ran.  Toward  evening  Jackson,  re-enforced  by  Hood's 
Division,  fought  with  renewed  energy,  gradually  driv- 
ing the  enemy  from  the  field,  until  by  nine  o'clock 
the  latter  fell  back,  having  sustained  a  loss  of  eight 


100  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1S62. 

thousand  in  killed  and  wounded.  These  attacks  by 
the  Federals  were  upon  the  wings  of  the  Confeder- 
ates, and  the  dawn  of  Saturday,  August  30,  saw  Pope 
gathering  his  energies  for  a  still  greater  effort,  by 
which  he  hoped  to  crush  the  ill-fed,  badly-clothed 
soldiers  of  Jackson — foot-sore  and  weary  from  the 
forced  marches  and  incessant  fighting.  But  the  re- 
sult of  the  contest  will  show  that  the  Federal  general 
underestimated  the  heroic  hearts  that  beat  under 
dust-covered  gray  jackets  and  those  knightly  souls 
that  looked  out  from  eyes  set  in  powder-stained  faces. 
Jackson  was  now  re-enforced  by  almost  all  of  Long- 
street's  entire  corps,  which  occupied  a  position  on  the 
right,  with  Jackson  himself  holding  the  left  wing — 
the  whole  line  forming  a  crescent  five  miles  long. 
Opposed  to  these,  on  the  side  of  the  enemy  were  Gen- 
erals Sigel,  Fitz  John  Porter,  and  Reno  in  the  center, 
and  Heintzleman  and  McDowell  o'n  the  left  and  right 
respectively.  The  Confederate  batteries  in  the  center, 
under  General  S.  D.  Lee,  opening  upon  the  rapidly 
forming  squadrons  of  the  enemy,  which  fire  was  re- 
turned by  their  batteries.  Then  the  Federals  moved 
forward  in  three  successive  columns  against  Jackson's 
infantry.  Desperately  and  boldly  did  they  try  to 
maintain  themselves  against  these  veterans  whose  ex- 
ploits  have  made  them  co-heirs  in  the  immortal  glory 
of  their  commander.  All  to  no  purpose  did  this  elect 
corps  of  the  Federal  army  sacrifice  their  best  blood 


18(32.      A  SERIES  OF  IMPORTANT  EVENTS.       101 

in  their  efforts  to  redeem  the  trust  their  commanders 
had  put  in  them.  They  staggered  and  reeled  like  the 
Old  Guard  at  Waterloo,  until  General  Lee  turned  the 
awful  fire  of  his  batteries  upon  them,  when  they 
turned  and  fled,  with  Jackson's  men  pursuing  like  so 
many  incarnate  spirits  of  the  genius  of  battle.  Gen- 
eral Sickles's  Excelsior  Brigade  met  even  a  worse 
fate  at  the  hands  of  General  Hood,  who  charged  them 
and  left  few  to  survive  the  impetuosity  and  effective- 
ness of  his  attack.  The  order  was  now  given  for  a 
general  charge  along  the  whole  Confederate  line. 
Never  did  the  soldiery  of  any  age  or  any  land  respond 
more  nobly  or  gallantly  to  a  command.  Grandly  and 
superbly  these  gray  masses  moved  forward,  with  those 
characteristic  cheers  which  sounded  their  clarion 
peals  of  victory  above  the  din  of  the  artillery  and 
the  rattle  of  the  musketry.  Nothing  could  withstand 
them.  The  spirit  of  the  cause  itself  for  which  they 
fought  seemed  to  be  j^ersonified  in  them,  enthusing 
them  with  a  courage  that  sent  the  enemy  flying  to- 
ward Centerville,  forgetful  of  every  thing  except  the 
desire  to  save  life.  Like  a  senseless  mob  they  ran, 
obeying  no  commands  until  they  were  checked  at 
Centerville  by  the  arrival  of  General  Franklin  with 
thirty  thousand  fresh  troops.  With  these  Pope  re- 
stored partial  order  to  his  disorganized  army,  and 
continued  his  retreat  toward  the  trenches  at  Wash- 
ington, leaving  upon  the  field  of  battle  a  large  amount 


102  THE   CIVIL  WAIl.  1802. 

of  the  munitions  of  war,  and  something  approaching 
thirty  thousand  men,  in  killed  and  wounded.  Thus,, 
in  all  the  fights  of  this  memorable  week,  it  has  been 
estimated  that  the  total  Federal  loss  was  thirty-eight 
thousand. 

"  On  September  4  General  Lee — leaving  to  his  right 
Arlington  Heights,  to  which  Pope  had  retreated  with 
his  shattered  army — crossed  the  Potomac  into  Mary 
land.  This  was  only  a  feint;  the  main  object  was  to 
seize  Harper's  Ferry,  and  to  test  the  spirit  of  Mary- 
landers,  He  then  threw  Pennsylvania  into  a  state  of 
consternation  from  Hagerstown."  "With  the  presence 
of  the  Confederate  army  at  Frederick,  and  fearing  an 
invasion  of  their  territory,  the  North  was  filled  with 
anxiety  and  terror.  To  carry  on  certain  important 
movements.  General  Lee — having  divided  his  forces 
into  three  corps  commanded  by  Generals  Jackson, 
Longstreet,  and  Hill — ordered  General  Jackson  to 
recross  the  Potomac  at  Williamsport  and  to  get  bo- 
hind  Harper's  Fen-y,  in  order  to  take  the  garrison 
and  the  stores  known  to  be  there.  Generals  Long- 
street  and  Hill  were  placed  in  position  so  as  to  check 
General  MacClellan's  forces,  who  were  moving  to- 
ward Harper's  Ferry,  with  the  purpose  of  prevent- 
ing its  capture.  General  MacClellan  had  resumed 
command  of  the  Federals  September  14,  General 
Pope,  to  use  the  expression  of  the  soldiers,  "having 
lost  his  head." 


18g2.  a  series  of  important  events.  103 

The  Battle  of  Boonsboro. 

Jackson  had  separated  his  own  division  from  the 
main  body  of  the  army  in  order  to  make  his  attack 
upon  Harper's  Ferry,  while  General  Longstreet  pro- 
ceeded on  to  Hagerstown.  General  Miles,  the  Fed- 
eral commander,  with  twelve  thousand  men,  occupied 
Harper's  Ferry.  To  thwart  the  Confederates  in  their 
designs  upon  this  place,  the  enemy  had  moved  their 
entire  force  to  the  gap  in  the  mountain.  As  a  coun- 
ter-movement General  Lee  had  placed  General  D. 
H.  Hill  on  the  other  side  of  the  gap,  with  part  of  his 
forces  occupying  the  top.  He  was  given  imperative 
instructions  to  hold  his  position  until  Jackson's  suc- 
cess was  assured.  To  understand  the  relative  position 
of  the  armies  and  the  nature  of  the  battle  that  fol- 
lowed, a  description  of  this  pass  is  necessary.  "  The 
road  is  winding,  narrow,  rocky,  and  rugged,  with 
either  a  deep  ravine  on  one  side  and  the  steep  sides 
of  the  mountain  on  the  other,  or  like  a  huge  chan- 
nel cut  through  a  solid  rock.  Near  the  crest  are 
three  houses  which  overlook  the  valley,  but  elsewhere 
the  face  of  the  mountain  is  unbroken  by  a  solitary 
habitation." 

Beginning  just  after  day-dawn,  an  artillery  duel  of 
two  hours'  duration  opened  the  battle,  which  was  then 
taken  up  generally  along  the  whole  line.  Our  vigor- 
ous attacks  seemed  to  make  no  impression  on  the 
overpowering  numbers   of  the    enemy,    and    retreat 


104  THE   CIVIL  V/AE.  18G2. 

seemed  inevitable,  when  the  rallying  cry  of  Long- 
street's  fresh  legion's  from  Hagerstown,  wheeling 
themselves  gallantly  into  action,  put  a  new  phase 
upon  the  battle.  But  even  to  these  fresh  re-enforce- 
ments the  enemy  would  not  yield,  and  with  a  determi- 
nation equal  in  its  tenacity  to  that  of  the  Confeder- 
ates, whom,  however,  they  outnumbered  by  five  times 
their  number,  they  held  their  position  until  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night  brought  a  needed  rest  to  man  and 
beast. '  But  the  purpose  of  the  Confederates  was  ac- 
complished.    Jackson  had  done  his  work. 

SURBENDER  OF  HaRPER's  FeRRY. 

Having  placed  his  artillery  in  position  on  the  night 
of  September  14,  early  next  morning  Jackson  hurled 
such  volleys  of  death  upon  the  whole  line  of  Feder- 
al fortifications  that  by  half-past  seven  they  flung 
out  the  white  flag  of  truce,  surrendering  eleven  thou- 
sand troops,  seventy-three  pieces  of  artillery,  and  two 
hundred  wagons.  Their  commander.  General  Miles, 
had  his  left  thigh  shot  away  by  a  fragment  of  a  shell. 
Once  again  had  Jackson's  ragged  veterans  foiced 
upon  the  eyes  of  the  North  the  thoroughly  humil- 
iating spectacle  of  the  surrender  of  a  magnificently 
equipped  division  of  their  so-called  "  Grand  Ai-my." 
One  can  imagine  how  intensely  painful  it  must  have 
been  to  these  Federal  soldiers,  blessed  with  every 
thing  that  was  necessary  to  the  complete  equipment 


Harper's  Ferry. 


aoi) 


1862.  A  SERIES  OF  IMror.TANT  EVENTS.  105 

of  soldiers,  to  march  out  as  prisoners  before  these 
heroes  of  a  hundred  battle-fields  in  their  tattered 
and  war-stained  garments. 

Battle  of  Shaepsbubg. 

General  Lee  had  now  determined  to  confront  the 
advancing  force  of  MacClellan  in  possession  of 
Crampton's  Gap,  on  the  road  from  Frederick  City  to 
Sharpsburg,  the  latter  place  being  about  ten  miles 
from  Harper's  Ferry,  resting  in  a  deep  valley  in  the 
midst  of  a  rugged  and  broken  country.  By  Septem- 
ber 17  he  had  settled  his  forty-five  thousand  men  in  a 
strong  position,  when  he  was  attacked  by  a  force  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  finely  trained  soldiers. 
General  MacClellan  commanded  in  person,  with  the 
following  subordinates  present  with  their  divisions: 
Generals  Burnside,  McDowell,  Hooker,  Sumner, 
Franklin,  Williams,  and  Sykes.  The  line  of  battle 
of  this  great  army  extended  over  a  space  of  five  miles. 
A  preliminary  fire  from  the  Federal  batteries  late 
Tuesday  evening  (16th)  prepared  the  Confederates 
for  an  early  renewal  the  next  morning.  Consequent- 
ly by  day-break  the  battle  was  opened  and  continued 
by  the  pickets  until  it  merged  into  a  general  engage- 
ment. "  The  enemy  advanced  between  Antietam  and 
the  Sharpsburg  and  Hagerstown  turnpike,  and  were 
met  by  General  D.  H.  Hill  and  General  Longstreet, 
"    where  the  conflict  raged,  extending  to  our  entire  left." 


106  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

The  mortality  among  the  Federals  was  teriible,  for 
tliey  were  in  a  position  where  our  guns  were  used 
against  them  with  such  telling  effect  that  they  fell 
as  grain  falls  before  the  blade  of  the  reaper;  conse- 
quently after  a  stubborn  contest  they  were  forced  to 
fall  back  at  this  point.  But  that  portion  of  our  line 
nearest  where  the  enemy  crossed  the  Potomac  was  on 
the  point  of  being  overwhelmed,  when  the  divisions 
of  McLaws,  Anderson,  and  Walker  came  to  its  as- 
sistance. With  these  new  troops  the  ranks  were  re- 
stored, and  they  held  their  position. 

Of  how  heroically  and  nobly  the  Confederates 
fought  it  is  perhaps  well  to  give  the  testimony  of  a 
Federal  officer:  "It  is  beyond  all  comprehension  how 
men  such  as  the  rebel  troops  are  can  fight  as  they  do. 
That  those  ragged  wretches — sick,  hungry,  and  in  all 
ways  miserable — should  prove  such  heroes  in  fight  is 
past  explanation.  Men  never  fought  better.  There 
was  one  regiment  that  stood  up  before  the  fire  of  two 
or  three  of  our  long-range  batteries  and  two  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  and  though  the  air  around  them 
was  vocal  with  the  whistle  of  the  bullets  and  the 
scream  of  the  shells,  there  they  stood  and  delivered 
their  fire  in  perfect  order." 

In  the  afternoon  the  enemy  made  a  vain  attack 
upon  our  right,  which  was  held  by  General  Jones, 
but  they  met  with  better  success  in  forcing  General 
Tombs  from  his  position  at  the  bridge  over  Antietam 


1862.  A  SERIES  OF  IMrOETANT  EVENTS.  107 

Creek.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  General  A. 
P.  Hill's  Division  came  to  the  support  of  the  Confed- 
erate right,  thus  augmenting  their  whole  number  to 
seventy  thousand.  But  even  with  these  they  could 
not  hope  to  gain  a  decisive  victory  over  an  enemy 
who  were  superior  to  them  by  twice  their  own  num- 
ber, and  who  had  the  advantage  of  position.  Conse- 
quently, at  night-fall,  after  superhuman  efforts,  with 
ammunition  exhausted,  they  had  to  content  them- 
selves with  a  drawn  battle,  each  side  virtually  retain- 
ing the  same  position  in  which  it  had  begun  the  con- 
flict. On  both  sides  the  loss  was  about  the  same — 
variously  estimated  between  five  and  nine  thousand. 
Though  the  Federals  claimed  the  victory,  they  dis- 
appeared from  the  Confederate  front  during  the 
night,  while  General  Lee  took  a  position  at  Shep- 
herdstown.  On  the  20th  the  Federals  made  a  pre- 
tense of  attacking  him  at  this  point,  but  were  re- 
pulsed by  General  A.  P.  Hill's  Division. 

At  this  time  the  London  Times  furnished  the  fol- 
lowing tribute  to  the  character  of  the  Southern  peo- 
ple: 

The  people  of  the  Confederate  States  have  made  themselves 
famous.  If  the  renown  of  brilliant  courage,  stern  devotion  to  a 
cause,  and  military  achievements  almost  Avithout  a  parallel  can 
compensate  men  for  the  toil  and  privations  of  the  hour,  then 
the  countrymen  of  Lee  and  Jackson  maybe  consoled  amid  their 
sufferings.  From  all  parts  of  Europe,  from  their  enemies  as 
well  as  their  friends,  from  those  who  condemn  their  acta  as 


108  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1802. 

well  as  those  who  sympathize  with  them,  comes  the  tribute  of 
admiration.  When  the  history  of  this  war  is  written  the  admi- 
ration will  doubtless  become  deeper  and  stronger,  for  the  veil 
which  has  covered  the  South  will  be  drawn  away,  and  disclose 
a  picture  of  patriotism,  of  unanimous  self-sacrifice,  of  wise  and 
firm  administration,  which  we  can  now  only  see  indistinctly. 
The  details  of  extraordinary  national  effort,  which  has  led  to  the 
repulse  and  almost  to  the  destruction  of  an  invading  force  of 
more  than  half  a  million  men,  will  then  become  known  to  the 
world,  and  whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  the  new  nationality  or 
its  subsequent  claims  to  the  respect  of  mankind,  it  will  assuredly 
begin  its  career  with  a  reputation  for  genius  and  valor  which  the 
most  famous  nations  may  envy. 


CHAPTER  Xlir 

Movements  in  the  West  Again. 

THE  North  had  arranged  a  programme  of  opera- 
tions in  the  country  west  of  the  Aileghanies. 
These  preparations  surpassed  in  magnitude  all  mili- 
tary movements  which  had  been  designed  or  attempt- 
ed since  the  beginning  of  the  Avar,  the  main  object 
being  the  expulsion  of  all  Confederates  from  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  and  the  States  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  and  also  the  penetration  through  the 
Gulf  States.  The  enemy  were  at  this  time  on  their 
way  into  all  these  places,  while  another  army  was 
operating  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  Also  there  was 
on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  a  fleet  of  gun-boats 
which  was  considered  impregnable  in  strength. 

Nothing  was  now  left  for  the  South  to  do  but  to 
make  a  forward,  aggressive  movement,  by  which 
North  Alabama  and  Middle  and  East  Tennessee 
should  be  relieved,  and  the  enemy  forced  to  fall 
back,  and  assistance  given  to  General  Buell,  who  was 
at  this  time  in  Kentucky.  The  brief  retirement  of 
the  favorite  General  Beauregard,  on  account  of  ill 
health,  was  a  misfortune  to  the  Confederates.  Gen- 
eral Bragg  was   appointed  to  take  his  place.     The 

(109) 


110  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


18G2. 


first  steps  of  the  aggressive  movement  was  the  order- 
ing of  General  Kirby  Smith  to  advance  into  Ken- 
tucky and  threaten  Cincinnati,  the  main  object  being 
to  force  the  enemy  across  the  Ohio  River. 

Early  in  the  month  of  August  General  McCown 
moved  his  division  from  Loudon  to  Knoxville;  thence 
our  troops  moved  to  the  gap  in  the  Cumberland 
Mountains,  being  joined  by  General  Cleburne  at  the 
lower  gap,  when  the  whole  force— with  baggage, 
trains,  and  artillery —were  ordered  through.  They 
then  made  a  forced  march  until  they  reached  Bar- 
boursville.  Halting  there  a  few  hours  to  rest  their 
wearied  limbs,  they  pushed  on  to  Cumberland  Ford, 
and  were  there  given  several  days  of  rest. 

General  Kirby  Smith  found  the  enemy  in  force  on 
the  morning  of  August  29,  near  Richmond,  Ky.,  and 
determined  to  march  against  them.  The  leading  di- 
vision, under  General  Cleburne,  after  advancing  two 
or  three  miles,  encountered  the  enemy  drawn  up  in 
line  of  battle  in  a  fine  position  near  Mount  Zion 
Church,  six  miles  from  Richmond,  Ky.  Without 
waiting  for  Churchill's  troops,  he  at  once  commenced 
action,  and  by  half-past  seven  o'clock  firing  was  very 
brisk.  General  Churcliilh  on  his  arrival,  was  sent 
with  his  division  to  turn  the  enemy's  right,  which  he 
accomplished  admirably.  At  the  same  time  an  at- 
tempt was  being  made  by  the  enemy  to  flank  General 
Cleburne's  right,  but  it  was  thwarted  by  the  gallantry 


1SG2.  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  WEST  AGAIN.  Ill 

of  Colonel  Preston  Smith's  Brigade,  which  repulsed 
the  enemy  with  great  slaughter.  General  Smith  then 
ordered  the  cavalry  to  proceed  to  the  north  of  Eich- 
mond  in  order  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  enemy. 
Our  artillerymen  having  ceased  their  firing,  and  the 
Federals  consequently  thinking  that  the  silence  of  the 
guns  meant  a  retreat,  made  an  attack  upon  the  Texas 
and  Arkansas  troops  under  McCray,  who  met  them 
and  fought  the  battle  alone,  and  by  courageous 
charging  upon  their  advancing  lines  put  them  to 
flight,  though  they  numbered  three  to  one.  In 
the  wildest  confusion  they  fled,  "leaving  knapsacks, 
swords,  pistols,  hats,  and  canteens  scattered  along 
the  road  they  traveled,  where  their  dead  and  dying 
too  plainly  showed  the  way."  ' 

General  Smith  received  information  that  General 
Nelson  had  arrived  with  re-enforcements  for  the 
enemy,  and  had  determined  to  make  a  stand  on  a 
commanding  ridge.  Generals  Churchill  and  Preston 
Smith,  at  double-quick,  formed  in  front  of  the  ene- 
my's center  and  left.  Without  waiting  for  the  com- 
mand of  the  officers,  these  brave  Confederates  ad- 
vanced under  the  destructive  fire  of  twice  their 
number,  and  drove  the  Federals  from  the  field  with 
great  slaughter.  The  worn-out,  exhausted  condition 
of  our  soldiers  and  the  darkness  of  the  night  prevent- 
ed pursuit  of  the  enemy.  The  results  of  the  day 
added  new  glories  to  Confederate  arms. 


112  THE  CIVIL  WAIl.  18G2. 

On  the  4tli  of  September  General  Preston  Smith, 
with  forces  consisting  of  a  Texas  and  an  Arkansas 
brigade,  under  command  of  General  Churchill,  and 
Generals  Cleburne's  and  Heath's  Divisions— all  be- 
ing under  the  command  of  General  Kirby  Smith — 
was  welcomed  into  the  beautiful  city  of  Lexington, 
Ky.  "The  entrance  of  our  troops  into  Lexington 
was  the  occasion  of  the  most  inspiring  and  touching 
scenes.  Streets,  windows,  and  gardens  were  filled 
with  ladies  and  little  girls  with  streams  of  red  and 
blue  ribbon  and  flags  with  stars  and  bars  upon  them. 
Beautiful  women  seized  the  hard,  brown  hands  of  our 
rough  and  ragged  soldiers,  and,  with  tears  and 
smiles,  thanked  them  again  and  again  for  coming 
into  Kentucky,  and  freeing  them  from  the  presence 
and  insults  of  the  hated  and  insolent  Yankees.  For 
hours  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  was  unbounded. 
At  every  street-corner  baskets  of  provisions  and 
buckets  of  cold  water  were  placed  for  the  refresh- 
ment of  our  weary  soldiers;  and  hundreds  of  our 
men  were  presented  with  shoes  and  hats  and  coats 
and  tobacco  from  a  grateful  people.  Private  resi- 
dences were  turned  into  public  houses  of  entertain- 
ment free  to  all  who  could  be  persuaded  to  go  and 
eat.  But  if  the  reception  of  the  infantry  was  enthu- 
siastic, the  tears,  the  smiles,  the  cheers  of  wild  de- 
light which  greeted  General  John  Morgan's  cavalry 
as  they  came  dashing  through  the  streets  amid  clouds 


18G2.  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  WEST  AGAIN.  113 

of  dust  was  without  a  parallel.  The  wildest  joy  ruled 
the  hour.  The  bells  of  the  city  pealed  forth  their 
joyous  welcome,  while  the  waving  of  thousands  of 
white  handkerchiefs  and  tiny  Confederate  flags  at- 
tested the  gladness  and  delight  of  every  heart." 

With  the  .laurels  of  grand  exploits  in  Kentucky  still 
fresh  upon  him,  many  were  hopeful  that  General 
Smith  would  attemj>t  the  capture  of  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati; but  his  orders  were  to  menace,  not  attack. 
Consequently  he  was  ordered  to  fall  back  into  the 
interior  to  co-operate  with  the  army  under  General 
Bragg,  who  had  entered  the  State  by  the  eastern 
route,  crossing  the  Cumberland  Kiver  at  Gainesboro, 
with  the  design  of  flanking  General  Buell.  General 
Smith's  movements,  however,  were  soon  understood 
by  the  enemy.  On  September  17  General  Bragg 
captured  five  thousand  of  the  enemy  at  Munford- 
ville,  with  a  very  small  loss  on  our  side;  and  on  Oc- 
tober 4  joined  General  Smith  at  Frankfort. 

Battle  of  Perryville,  October  8. 

By  harassing  his  rear  near  Perryville  the  enemy 
showed  that  they  were  desirous  of  an  engagement 
with  General  Bragg;  and  the  latter,  though  having 
but  fifteen  thousand  men  against  forty-five  thousand 
of  the  Federals,  arranged  his  forces  for  battle  with 
General  Hardee  commanding  Buckner's  and  Ander- 
'  son's  Divisions  on  the  left  and  General  Polk  with 
8 


114  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1SG2. 

Cheatham's  and  Withers's  Divisions  on  the  right. 
About  midday  the  battle  opened.  Colonel  Powell's 
Brigade,  on  the  extreme  left,  succeeded  in  pushing 
back  for  over  a  mile  the  largely  suj)erior  numbers 
opposed  to  him;  but  General  Adams's  Brigade,  after 
holding  its  position  gallantly  until  six  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  was  forced  to  retreat,  which  they  accom- 
plished in  perfect  order,  though  at  the  loss  of  a  large 
number  of  men.  When  night  put  an  end  to  this  hotiy 
contested  engagement  it  was  found  that  the  Confeder- 
ates had  forced  the  enemy  two  miles  from  their  orig- 
inal position,  with  a  loss  of  four  thousand  killed  and 
wounded,  seven  thousand  prisoners,  and  fifteen  pieces 
of  artillery;  while  their  own  loss  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing  was  two  thousand  five  hundred. 

Inability  on  the  part  of  the  Confederates  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  their  victory  at  Perryville,  just  as  at 
Shiloh,  was  again  due  to  a  lack  of  numbers;  for  the 
history  of  the  world's  battle-fields  furnishes  no  no- 
bler example  of  man's  devotion  to  principle  and  the 
courage  to  stand  by  that  principle  with  life  itself. 
All  day  they  fought  in  a  manner  worthy  of  their 
cause,  though  tired  and  worn  out  by  their  long 
marches  over  the  mountains.  General  Cheatham's 
brave  Tennesseeans  deserve  great  credit  for  the  cour- 
age with  which  they  bore  the  brunt  of  the  contest. 
In  this  day's  fight  the  Confederates  proved  true  to 
a  glorious  past  that  had  made  the  record  of  noble 


18G2.  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  WEST  AGAIN.  115 

and    manly    achievements    richer    and   brighter    by- 
many  a  gallant  deed. 

The  large  numbers  of  the  enemy,  and  the  fact,  too, 
that  they  were  increasing  daily,  made  a  retreat  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Kealizing  this.  General  Bragg 
began  his  march  out  of  Kentucky  October  12,  Major 
Adrian's  Cavalry  leading  the  van.  Arriving  at  Bry- 
antsville,  the  management  of  the  retreat  was  turned 
over  to  General  Polk,  which  was  accomplished  suc- 
cessfully by  General  Wheeler's  skillful  defense  of  the 
rear,  from  which  he  warded  off  frequent  and  strong 
attacks  of  the  enemy.  In  many  respects  this  retreat 
was  unfortunate.  It  produced  a  tremendous  back- 
set to  the  Confederate  cause  in  Kentucky;  for  the 
citizens,  who  had  welcomed  the  army  with  such  en- 
thusiasm, either  had  to  absolve  tiiemselves  from  alle- 
giance to  the  Confederacy  or  else  to  abandon  their 
property  and  possessions  to  the  enemy.  Consequent- 
ly the  greatest  confusion  resulted  throughout  the 
State,  producing  a  large  exodus  of  citizens  toward 
the  South  in  order  to  get  within  the  protection  of 
the  Confederate  lines. 

In  the  South-west. 

Events  in  this  section  brought  little  credit  upon 
Southern  arms.  Disasters  followed  one  another  in  a 
depressingly  quick  succession,  which  were  begun  by 
General  Breckinridge's  attack  August  5,  with  only 


116  THE   CIVIL  WAE.  1862. 

three  thousand  men,  upon  five  thousand  of  the  enemy 
strongly  fortified  at  Baton  Eouge,  La.  Though  the 
attack  was  gallantly  conducted;  and  though  the  troops 
fought  as  nobly  as  men  well  could  under  the  circum- 
stances, they  were  forced  to  fall  back  with  consider- 
able loss.  This  misfortune  was  followed  by  the  forced 
destruction  of  the  magnificent  ram  "Arkansas,"  which 
had  made  herself  famous  by  successfully  running 
through  the  Federal  fleet  at  Vicksburg,  and  in  which 
the  Confederate  Government  entertained  great  hopes 
of  future  use.  Her  machinery  refused  to  work,  and 
consequently,  in  order  to  avoid  capture  at  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  she  was  burned  near  Bayou  Sara. 

At  luka.  Miss.,  September  20,  General  Price,  in 
an  attack  against  an  enemy  largely  superior  in  num- 
bers, met  a  similar  fate  to  that  which  our  troops  had 
suffered  at  Baton  Rouge.  It  was  the  same  old  story 
of  a  magnificent  and  splendid  courage  striving  against 
sheer  force  of  numbers.  To  illustrate  how  stubbornly 
and  bravely  the  Confederates  contested  with  the  ene- 
my, it  is  related  that  "the  battle  was  almost  hand  to 
hand.  One  Ohio  battery  was  taken  four  times  by  our 
men,  and  as  often  retaken  by  a  greatly  superior  force. 
Several  of  our  men  endeavored  to  tear  the  colors 
from  the  hands  of  the  Yankees  by  main  force,  and 
either  perished  in  tbe  attempt  or  were  made  prison- 
ers. In  one  spot  the  next  morning  there  were  count- 
ed seventeen  Confederate  soldiers  lying  dead  around 


1862. 


MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  WEST  AGAIN.  117 


one  of  their  officers.     Sixteen  feet  square  would  have 
covered  the  whole  space." 

Battle  of  Coeinth. 

Having  united  the  forces  of  General  Price  with  his 
own,  on  Friday,  October  3,  General  Van  Dorn  pre- 
pared to  attack  the  enemy  fortified  at  Corinth.  His 
own  forces,  consisting  of  only  one  division  command- 
ed by  General  Lovell,  held  the  right,  with  General 
Price's  forces  of  two  divisions  holding  the  left,  the 
extreme  positions  on  the  left  and  right  being  occu- 
pied by  Generals  Herbert  and  Maury  respectively. 
The  battle  was  begun  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  by 
General  Yillipigue's  Battery  opening  a  severe  fire 
upon  the  enemy,  which  forced  them  to  make  a  gradu- 
al retreat  for  two  hours.  Here,  within  half  a  mile  of 
their  line  of  fortifications,  the  Federals  made  a  stab- 
born  stand.  The  whole  Confederate  line  now  moved 
grandly  forward  to  the  attack.  In  the  midst  of  the 
concentrated  fire  of  the  enemy's  heaAy  batteries,  they 
advanced  superbly  in  a  double-quick  charge,  driving 
the  Federals  from  their  first  line  of  intrenchments  to 
the  protection  of  the  second- 
Here  the  battle  ended  for  the  day,  and  General  Van 
Dorn,  overconfident  and  ignorant  of  the  strength  of 
the  enemy,  telegraphed  to  Bichmond  the  news  of  a 
great  victory.  Early  next  morning  the  conflict  was 
renewed  with  a  terrific  artillery  fire  upon  tile  enemy's 


118  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1862. 

works,  which  was  kept  up  until  ten  o'clock,  when  the 
whole  line  again  advanced  to  the  attack.  Nothing 
could  withstand  them.  But  the  very  enthusiasm  of 
victory  cost  them  dear.  Inspired  by  the  spirit  of 
battle  itself,  the  individual  soldier  forgot  order  and 
discipline,  and  in  the  greatest  and  the  wildest  con- 
fusion they  cut  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  and 
broke  into  the  village  of  Corinth.  Here  the  Federals 
turned  loose  their  batteries  upon  them,  and  either  a 
retreat  was  inevitable  or  the  taking  of  the  enemy's 
strongest  battery,  on  College  Hill,  was  necessary. 
The  latter  course  was  ordered.  Eight  deep,  in  a 
grim  and  determined  silence,  the  representatives  of 
Southern  hopes  and  aspirations  advanced  to  the 
charge  into  the  very  jaws  of  death.  On  they  went 
in  the  face  of  bullets  as  thick  as  rain-drops  in  a  sum- 
mer storm.  Still  advancing,  and  falling  by  the  hun- 
dreds, they  reached  the  top  of  the  hill.  Twice  were 
they  beaten  back;  but  the  third  time  they  seemed  to 
succeed.  A  cheer  was  raised  above  the  din  of  battle, 
and  the  Southern  cross  with  its  stars  of  heaven  float- 
ed from  the  enemy's  Avorks;  but  it  was  immediately 
torn  away  by  a  shot.  Again  it  was  set  up,  but  only 
to  be  shot  away.  Physical  nature  inspired  by  divine 
courage  could  do  no  more.  The  bleeding,  shattered 
ranks,  after  having  given  an  exhibition  of  fortitude 
which  glorifies  the  human  race,  fell  back,  followed  by 
an  increased  fire  of  the  enemy  at  close  range,  and  the 


1862.  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  WEST  AGAIN.  119 

day  was  lost.  But  even  then  they  were  unwilling  to 
give  up  the  contest  without  another  struggle,  and 
only  retired  to  the  shelter  of  the  woods  to  await  the 
expected  attack  of  the  enemy.  But  the  latter  seemed 
contented  with  the  day's  fighting.  Consequently 
General  Yan  Dorn  began  to  withdraw  his  forces. 
About  half-past  eight  o'clock  next  morning  he  was 
again  attacked  by  the  enemy,  which  at  first  produced 
a  temporary  confusion.  But  order  was  soon  restored, 
and  an  artillery  fire  was  kept  up  all  day,  which  en- 
abled General  Yan  Dorn  to  gradually  lead  his  troops 
across  the  Hatchie  Eiver,  and  take  a  position  near 
Piipley.  In  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners  General 
Yan  Dorn  had  lost  forty-five  hundred  men,  while 
it  is  conjectured  that  the  Federal  loss  was  perhaps 
about  half  that  number. 

Guerrilla  Warfare  in  Missouri. 

The  State  of  Missouri  had  much  to  complain  of  at 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  From  one  end  of  her  bor- 
ders to  the  other  she  had  beei^i  overrun  with  the  full 
license  of  war — robbery,  murder,  and  pillage  being 
the  order  of  the  day.  Consequently,  as  a  matter  of 
self-defense  and  to  protect  themselves  against  the 
unrestrained  oppression  of  the  enemy,  the  citizens 
began  to  organize  themselves  into  irregular  bands, 
known  as  "guerrillas."  Troops  of  this  character, 
however,  did  not  disdain  to  try  conclusions  with  the 


120  THE   CIVIL  WAE.  1862. 

enemy  even  in  open  battle.  On  the  Gtli  of  August 
Porter's  band  was  attacked  by  a  large  force  of  the 
Federals  under  Colonel  McNeil,  at  Kirksville,  and 
only  retreated  after  killing  fully  one  thousand  of  the 
enemy  and  losing  five  hundred  themselves.  This 
was  followed  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month  by  a 
total  defeat  and  rout  of  the  Federals,  near  Lone  Jack, 
by  Hughes's  and  Quantrell's  bands,  the  arrival  of  re- 
enforcements  only  saving  the  enemy  from  destruction. 
To  illustrate  the  terrible  vindictiveness  of  the  Fed- 
erals, one  has  only  to  mention  briefly  what  was  known 
as  the  "Palmyra  massacre,"  which  occurred  in  Octo- 
ber. A  Federal  spy  had  been  captured,  and  Colonel 
McNeil  issued  orders  that  unless  he  were  returned 
ten  Confederate  prisoners  should  pay  the  penalty 
with  their  lives.  Being  a  legitimate  prisoner  of  war, 
the  man  was  not  returned.  The  Federal  commander, 
true  to  his  word,  carried  out  his  cruel  edict  to  the  verv 
letter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Campaign  in  Northern  Virginia. 

NOT  satisfied  with  the  dilatory  policy  of  General 
MacClellan,  as  indicated  in  the  previous  chapter, 
the  Federal  Government  had  superseded  him  with 
General  Burnside,  With  this  change  the  North 
again  took  up  their  old  cry,  "On  to  Richmond!" 
which  had  been  so  often  turned  to  one  of  grief  by 
the  prowess  of  Southern  arms. 

General  Burnside  began  operations  by  massing 
his  forces  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  with  the  determi- 
nation of  crossing  the  Rappahannock.  Consequently 
on  the  night  of  December  10  he  began  to  construct 
three  bridges  over  the  Rappahannock — "two  at  Fred- 
ericksburg and  a  third  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  be- 
low at  Deep  Run.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  work  the 
enemy  were  defended  by  their  artillery  on  the  hills 
of  Stafford,  which  completely  commanded  the  plain 
upon  which  Fredericksburg  stands."  During  the 
process  of  construction  the  Seventeenth  Mississippi 
Regiment  of  Barksdale's  Brigade,  posted  on  the 
bluffs  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  opened  fire 
upon  the  enemy,  which  was  replied  to  with  a  storm 
of  shells.     Though   the  Confederates    harassed  the 

(121) 


122  THE  CIVIL  WAll.  1862. 

enemy  persistently  and  incessantly  all  through  the 
night,  yet  they  sacceeded  in  finishing  their  bridges 
by  the  morning  of  the  lltli.  The  Confederates  re- 
treated through  the  streets  of  Fredericksburg,  fol- 
lowed by  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  which  forced  the 
citizens  to  evacuate  the  town  and  to  flee  to  the  sur- 
rounding country  for  protection.  By  the  13th  the 
Confederates  had  taken  a  strong  position  upon  the 
bluffs  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  presenting  a 
front  to  the  enemy  six  miles  in  length.  About  twelve 
o'clock  in  the  day  the  latter  moved  forward  across  the 
valley  intervening  between  our  forces  and  theirs. 
They  were  received  with  a  terrible  cannonading  from 
General  Stuart's  Horse  Artillery,  but  managed  to 
keep  on  across  the  valley  until  they  came  within  the 
protection  of  the  woods,  from  which  position  they 
were  driven  by  Generals  Hill's  and  Early's  troops, 
and  pursued  until  they  reached  the  shelter  of  their 
batteries.  While  this  portion  of  the  Confederate 
line,  which  consisted  of  Jackson's  Corps,  w^as  thus 
engaged,  the  enemy  also  advanced  against  General 
Longstreet's  position  on  the  left,  and  directed  their 
principal  attack  against  Mayre's  Hill,  upon  which 
was  stationed  the  Washington  Artillery  and  a  part  of 
McLaw's  Division.  Right  gallantly  did  they  press 
forward  to  the  charge,  facing  the  awful  fire  of  shot 
and  shell  turned  upon  them  with  such  effectiveness 
as  to  make  the  ground  over  which  they  passed  liter- 


1862. 


CAMPAIGN  IN  NOETHEKN  VIRGINIA.      '  123 


ally  a  ghastly  field  of  dead  men.  Broken  and  shat- 
tered, they  reeled  back,  pursued  into  the  town  by  our 
troops.  Night  put  an  end  to  the  conflict.  The  pale 
December  moon  gave  a  ghastlier  appearance  to  a 
field  already  horrible  in  the  extreme.  That  terrible 
tenacity  and  doggedness  with  which  each  fought  was 
shown  in  the  number  of  the  killed,  for  the  field  is 
said  to  have  been  "  literally  packed  with  dead.  At 
the  foot  of  Mayre's  Hill  was  a  frightful  spectacle  of 
carnage."  The  victory  was  indeed  a  costly  one  to  the 
Confederates.  Not  having  the  whole  world  to  draw 
from,  the  number  of  killed  and  wounded  signified 
much  to  them:  it  meant  a  vacant  place  in  their  ranks 
that  could  not  be  filled,  a  gap  which,  when  closed  up, 
brought  the  wings  nearer  together.  Consequently 
the  fruits  of  the  victory  at  Fredericksburg  hardly 
compensated  them  for  the  loss  they  had  sustained, 
which  was  about  eighteen  hundred,  among  whom 
were  Generals  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  and  Gregg,  of  South 
Carolina;  while  the  enemy  are  said  to  have  lost  some- 
thing near  ten  thousand  men  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing.  Although  the  battle  was  decisive  enough, 
very  little  advantage  was  reaped  from  it  by  allowing 
General  Burnside  to  safely  cross  the  Rappahannock 
with  his  shattered  and  thoroughly  whipped  army. 

While  detailing  the  story  of  man's  stern  devotion 
to  duty  on  the  bloody  field  of  carnage,  woman's  qui- 
eter though  none  the  less  noble  devotion  cannot  be 


124  THE   CIVIL  WAll.  18G2. 

consistently  passed  over.  Therefore,  in  quoting  the 
language  of  an  historian  in  regard  to  the  heroism 
of  the  women  of  Fredericksburg  during  this  time 
one  but  describes  the  qualities  that  characterized 
the  women  of  the  whole  South  during  the  shifting 
and  trying  scenes  of  the  civil  war: 

The  romance  of  the  story  of  Fredericksburg  is  written  no  less 
in  the  quiet  heroism  of  her  women  than  in  deeds  of  arms.  The 
verses  of  a  poet  rather  than  the  cold  language  of  a  mere  chron- 
icler of  events  are  more  befitting  to  describe  the  beautiful  cour- 
age and  the  noble  sacrifices  of  these  brave  daughters  of  Virginia. 
.  .  .  .  In  all  the  terrible  scenes  of  Fredericksburg  there  were 
no  weaknesses  and  tears  of  women.  Mothers,  exiles  from  home, 
met  their  sons  in  the  ranks,  embraced  thein,  told  them  to  do 
their  duty,  and,  with  a  self-negation  most  touching  to  witness, 
concealed  their  wants,  sometimes  their  hunger,  telling  their 
brave  boys  that  they  were  comfortable  and  happy,  that  they 
might  not  be  troubled  with  domestic  anxieties.  At  Hamilton's 
Crossing  many  of  the  women  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting 
their  relations  in  the  army.  In  the  haste  of  flight  mothers  had 
brought  a  few  garments  or  perhaps  the  last  loaf  of  bread  for  the 
soldier  boy,  and  the  lesson  of  duty  whispered  in  the  ear  gave 
the  young  heart  the  pure  and  brave  inspiration  to  sustain  it  in 
battle.  No  more  touching  and  noble  evidence  could  be  offered 
of  the  heroism  of  the  women  of  Fredericksburg  than  the  grati- 
tude of  our  army;  for  afterward,  when  subscriptions  for  their 
relief  came  to  be  added  up,  it  was  found  that  thousands  of  dol- 
lars had  been  contributed  by  ragged  soldiers  out  of  their  pit- 
tance of  pay  to  the  fund  of  the  refugees.  There  could  be  no 
more  eloquent  tribute  offered  than  this — a  beautiful  and  immor- 
tal souvenir  of  their  sufferings  and  virtues. 


18g2.         campaign  in  northern  virginia.  125 

The  Federals  in  North  Carolina. 
During  the  month  of  December  the  Federals  were 
actively  engaged  in  overrunning  the  State  of  North 
Carolina.  Near  Kinston  General  Evans,  with  only 
two  thousand  men,  succeeded  in  holding  them  in 
check  for  three  days,  from  the  13th  to  the  16th.  The 
number  of  the  enemy  was  fifteen  thousand,  com- 
manded by  General  Foster.  They  then  moved  against 
General  Robertson  at  Whitehall  Bridge,  over  the 
Neuse  Eiver,  eighteen  miles  below  Goldsboro,  but 
were  repulsed  with  great  loss.  This  was  followed  by 
an  attack  of  the  whole  Confederate  force — under 
Generals  Evans,  Clingman,  and  Pettigrew — apon  the 
Federal  position  along  the  river  (Neuse).  The  lat- 
ter were  driven  back  to  the  shelter  of  their  fortifica- 
tions and  gun-boats.  Thus,  with  a  loss  of  only  about 
three  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded,  the  Confeder- 
ates had  held  the  enemy  in  check,  and  had  prevent- 
ed them  from  accomplishing  any  thing  of  special 
importance. 

General  Hindman's  Success  in  Arkansas. 

Before  closing  the  record  of  the  year  1862  Gener- 
al Hindman's  encounter  with  the  enemy  on  the  27th 
of  November^  at  Prairie  Grove,  Ark.,  must  be  no- 
ticed. With  only  about  nine  thousand  men  General 
Hindman  sustained  himself  against  a  much  larger 
force.     All  day  the  battle  waged,  with  the   enemy 


126  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

making  persistent  and  stubborn  charges  upon  his 
lines,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  for  when  the  day  ended 
he  had  thoroughly  and  completely  pushed  the  enemy 
back,  with  a  loss  of  one  thousand  in  killed  and  wound- 
ed, three  hundred  prisoners,  and  a  large  amount  of 
stores,  for  which  the  Confederates  paid  with  a  total 
loss  of  three  hundred. 

Cavalry  Exploits. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi  River  the  last 
movements  of  the  year  were  signalized  by  the  daring 
raids  of  the  Confederate  cavalry  under  Generals  For- 
rest, Morgan,  and  Clarkson,  by  which  the  Federals 
were  continually  harassed,  for  they  never  knew  where 
or  when  these  hard  riders  would  strike  them  a  blow, 
and  then  vanish  like  a  shadow.  On  the  7tli  day  of 
December  General  John  Morgan,  around  whose 
name  the  glamour  of  romantic  story  has  spread  itself, 
succeeded  in  taking  the  town  of  Hartsville,  on  the 
Cumberland  Iliver,  with  two  thousand  stands  of  arms, 
a  large  quantity  of  provisions,  two  pieces  of  artillery, 
and  eighteen  hundred  prisoners.  This  exploit  was 
followed  by  Colonel  Clarkson  with  like  success,  tak- 
ing the  town  of  Piketon,  Ky. 

On  the  whole  the  year  1862  had  been  a  brilliant 
one  to  the  South,  though  it  was  overshadowed  by 
some  signal  disasters.  Eelying  solely  upon  the  virt- 
ue, integrity,  and  patriotism  of  her  people,  she  had 


18()2.  CAMPAIGN  IN  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA.  127 

successfully  resisted  each  of  the  maguificeut  armies 
that  the  enemy,  with  inexhaustible  resources  behind 
them,  had  hurled  against  her.  The  story  of  the  suc- 
cessive battles  has  given  to  the  world  a  clear  and 
positive  proof  of  the  valor  of  her  troops,  and  their  de- 
votion to  principle  under  the  most  trying  and  adverse 
circumstances.  Consequently,  with  such  a  record 
as  this,  she  was  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  next  year 
with  comparative  confidence  and  few  misgivings  as 
to  the  results.  Therefore,  preliminary  to  the  impor- 
tant events  which  were  to  follow,  General  Pemberton 
was  appointed  to  supersede  General  Van  Dorn  at 
Holly  Springs,  Miss.;  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston 
was  put  in  command  of  all  the  armies  between  the 
mountains  and  the  great  river;  and  General  Beaure- 
gard was  ordered  to  defend  the  cities  of  Charleston 
and  Savannah  against  the  fleet  being  prepared  on  a 
large  scale  by  the  enemy. 


CHAPTER  XIV, 

Murfreesboro— Galveston— Arkansas. 

AT  Murfreesboro,  Tenii.,  General  Bragg  had  con- 
centrated as  gallant  an  army  as  ever  followed 
the  flag  of  any  country  into  battle.  It  was  thirty 
thousand  in  number,  coming  principally  from  the  ex- 
treme Southern  States — Louisiana,  Florida,  South 
Carolina,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennes- 
see. The  horrors  of  battle  were  not  new  to  them,  for 
they  were  the  same  troops  who  had  given  evidence  of 
such  magnificent  and  superb  courage  at  Shiloh  and 
Perry ville  and  other  scarcely  less  memorable  fields. 
They  were  now  resting  from  the  dread  alarms  of  war, 
and  had  entered  with  all  a  soldier's  zest  into  the  full 
enjoyment  of  the  festivities  of  Christmas,  when,  on 
Friday,  December  26,  word  was  brought  that  Rose- 
crans  was  marching  against  them  from  Nashville  with 
over  forty  thousand  troops.  The  scene  changes  from 
the  detights  and  pleasures  of  the  ball-room  to  the 
sterner  duties  of  war  and  death. 

"The  grounds  in  front  of  Murfreesboro  had  been 
surveyed  and  examined  a  month  before  in  order  to 
select  a  position  for  battle  in  case  of  a  surprise,  and 

ou^  troops  were  thrown  forward  to  prevent  such  a 
(128) 


1832.       MURFEEESBORO— GALVESTON— ARKANSAS.  129 

misfortune.  Polk's  Corps,  with  Cheatham's  Division, 
occupied  our  center,  Maney's  Brigade  being  thrown 
forward  toward  La  Yergne,  where  Wheeler's  Cavalry- 
was  annoying  the  enemy.  A  portion  of  Kirby  Smith's 
Corps,  McCown's  Division,  occupied  Eeadyville  on  ^ 
our  right,  and  Hardee's  Corps  occupied  Triune  on 
our  left,  with  Wharton's  Cavalry  thrown  out  in  the 
vicinity  of  Franklin."  The  advance  of  the  enemy 
drove  in  Hardee's  Corps  from  Triune,  and  made  the 
call  of  McCown's  Division  from  Ready ville  necessary. 
By  the  28th  the  Confederates  had  arranged  them- 
selves in  line  of  battle,  with  Polk's  command,  Cheat- 
ham's and  Withers's  Divisions,  on  the  west  bank  of 
Stone's  Biver,  presenting  a  front  six  miles  in  length 
from  wing  to  wing,  which  rested  respectively  on  the 
Nashville  and  Salem  pikes;  Hardee's  Corps,  Breck- 
inridge's and  Cleburne's  Divisions,  held  a  position 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  river,  stretching  over  a  dis- 
tance of  three  miles,  thus  making  the  whole  line  "  nine 
miles  in  length,  in  the  shape  of  an  obtuse  angle." 
McCown's  Division  and  Jackson's  Brigade  were  held 
as  reserves  for  the  center  and  right  flank  respectively. 
After  preliminary  skirmishing  and  cannonading  on 
the  29th  and  the  morning  of  the  30th,  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  latter  day  the  enemy  massed 
their  forces  and  attacked  the  Confederate  left,  charg- 
ing Robinson's  Battery  no  less  than  three  times;  but 
each  time  they  were  driven  back  by  those  courageous 
9 


130  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G2. 

Tennesseeans,  the  One  Hundred  and  Fiffy-fourth 
Eegiment.  Perceiving  that  the  intention  of  the  Fed- 
erals was  to  concentrate  their  efforts  against  the  left, 
McCown's  and  Cleburne's  Divisions  were  moved  to 
that  part  of  the  line.  In  the  meantime  Wheeler's 
Cavalry  had  surprised  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  and  had 
captured  a  wagon-train,  together  with  some  prisoners. 
All  through  that  December  night  the  Confederates 
lay  around  the  camp-fires,  chilled  by  a  bitter  winter 
rain.  But  this  did  not  damp  their  ardor  for  the 
grand  charge  which  they,  in  the  cold,  gray  dawn  of 
the  next  morning  (31st),  made.  The  charge  was  be- 
gun by  Cleburne's  and  McCown's  Divisions,  and  took 
the  enemy  completely  by  surprise.  The  bright  sun 
broke  through  the  clouds  just  at  the  time,  and  shed  a 
ray  of  splendor  upon  that  grand  gray  column  as  it 
moved  irresistibly  forward,  sweeping  the  enemy  be- 
fore it,  and  driving  them  back  six  miles.  Withers's 
and  Cheatham's  Divisions  had  also  made  the  enemy 
feel  the  weight  of  their  awful  blows  in  the  number  of 
dead  which  they  left  upon  the  field  and  the  batteries 
which  they  abandoned  to  the  possession  of  the  Con- 
federates. A  splendid  and  magnificent  charge  had 
been  conducted,  "driving  the  enemy  before  it  like 
the  hurricane  scatters  leaves  upon  its  course,  and  lit- 
erally blackening  the  ground  with  the  dead.  For 
miles,  through  fields  and  forests,  over  ditches,  fences, 
and  ravines,  they  had  swept.     Brigade  after  brigade, 


1863.      MUEFEEESBOEO— GALVESTON— ARKANSAS.         131 

battery  after  battery  were  thrown  forward  to  stay 
their  onward  course,  but  another  volley  of  musketry, 
another  gleamicg  of  the  bayonet,  and,  like  their  pred- 
ecessors, they  were  crushed  into  one  common  ruin." 
The  Confederates  had  taken  nearly  five  thousand 
prisoners,  thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  five  thousand 
stands  of  arms,  and  a  large  amount  of  ammunition. 

General  Kosecrans  had  refused  to  aid  his  defeated 
right  by  weakening  his  left  or  center,  for  he  knew 
that  the  forces  in  front  of  him  were  ready  and  waiting 
to  strike  these  points  when  any  signs  of  weakness 
might  appear.  Consequently,  unperceived  by  the 
Confederates,  he  moved  his  center  forward  and  took 
a  strong  position  on  a  hill.  This  the  latter  gallantly 
charged;  but  it  was  simply  impossible  to  withstand 
the  awful  fire  of  the  enemy,  and  they  were  forced  to 
fall  back,  though  not  without  capturing  two  batteries. 
The  Confederates  camped  for  the  night  upon  one  of 
the  most  sanguinary  fields  of  the  war,  and  New-year's- 
eve  was  passed  in  the  midst  of  the  dead  and  wounded 
and  all  the  horrible  scenes  of  the  day's  fighting. 

On  the  following  day  (January  1,  1863)  General 
Bragg  presented  a  glorious  victory  to  the  authorities 
at  Richmond  as  a  New-year's  gift;  but  unfortunately 
he  allowed  the  enemy  to  restore  order  among  their  dis- 
organized forces,  and  did  not  attack  until  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  January  3.  In  the  meantime  the 
Federals  had  arranged  themselves  in  a  strong  po- 


132  THE  CIVIL  WAE.  18G3. 

sition  in  the  bend  of  the  river,  which  General  Breck- 
inridge was  ordered  to  take.  At  four  o'clock  the  sig- 
nal was  given,  and  the  fated  band  moved  forward  like 
the  very  embodiment  of  courage  to  that  awful  charge, 
in  the  face  of  such  a  storm  of  artillery  and  musketry 
fire  as  any  battle-field  had  rarely  witnessed.  With  a 
bravery  that  seemed  nothing  short  of  sheer  madness 
they  drove  the  enemy  from  the  ridge  to  the  river,  the 
Twentieth  Tennessee  Regiment  capturing  two  hundred 
prisoners.  They  next  turned  their  attention  to  the 
enemy  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  with  the 
of  his  command;  consequently,  in  the  approaching 
same  never-faltering  courage  they  crossed  it  in  the 
midst  of  such  a  fire  that  in  a  short  space  of  time, 
measured  only  by  a  few  brief  moments,  two  thou- 
sand vacant  places  were  made  in  the  home  life  of  the 
South.  Bat  the  sacrifice  was  fruitless  save  only  as 
an  example  of  a  grand  courage  that  causes  one  to 
honor  his  race  more  and  more  as  he  reads  the  story 
of  the  "bloody  crossing  of  Stone's  River."  To  con- 
tinue against  such  a  fire  meant  the  total  annihilation 
darkness,  Breckinridge  fell  back.  Among  his  dead 
were  the  brave  Captain  Wright  and  the  noble  and 
gallant  Hanson,  whose  last  words  were:  " I  am  willing 
to  die  with  such  a  wound,  received  in  so  glorious  a 
cause."  With  these  heroic  words  he  joined  the  grand 
army  of  warriors  on  the  other  shore,  who  have  died 
battling  for  the  right. 


1862.   MURFREESBORO— GALVESTON— ARKANSAS.    133 

On  the  next  day  (the  3d)  General  Bragg  withdrew 
with  his  army  to  Tullahoma,  while  the  Federal  forces 
occupied  Murfreesboro.  While  the  battle  may  be 
accounted  a  Federal  success  in  that  the  Confederates 
fell  back  from  their  position,  yet  when  the  enemy's 
terrible  defeat  in  the  first  day's  fight  is  considered, 
together  with  the  number  of  their  loss  in  killed  and 
prisoners,  and  also  the  fact  that  Bragg  was  holding  a 
position  which  virtually  held  them  in  check,  then  it 
will  be  seen  that  their  claims  to  a  complete  victory 
might  be  well  questioned. 

Capture  of  Galveston. 

As  an  offset  to  the  apparent  disaster  at  Murfrees- 
boro, the  Confederates  also  began  the  new  year  with 
a  victory  at  Galveston,  Tex.  At  three  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  December  31st  General  Magruder, 
with  seven  regiments  of  infantry  and  twenty-two  guns, 
proceeded  to  retake  the  city,  which,  as  has  been  no- 
ticed in  a  previous  cliapter,  had  been  captured  by  the 
enemy.  Only  a  few  of  the  latter  occupied  the  city, 
but  out  in  the  harbor,  not  three  hundred  yards  from 
the  shore,  lay  five  of  the  enemy's  boats,  with  their 
guns  ready  and  frowning  threateningly  upon  the 
city.  Silently  Magruder's  little  band  moved  through 
the  streets  and  took  a  position  on  Strand  Street  near 
the  wharves;  and  before  daylight  he  astonished  the 
citizens  with  a  roar  of  his  guns  directed  against  the 


134  THE  CIVIL  WAK.  ]SG3. 

ships,  which  replied  to  their  fire  so  effectively  that  it 
soon  became  evident  that  the  small  Confederate  bat- 
tery was  no  match  for  their  heavy  guns.  Mean- 
while an  unsuccessful  attack  was  made  upon  three 
companies  of  the  Forty-second  Massachusetts  Kegi- 
ment,  which  were  fortified  at  one  end  of  the  wharfs; 

Assistance  now  came  to  the  Confederates  from  the 
water.  The  " Bayou  City,"  the  "Neptune,"  the  "John 
F.  Can,"  and  the  "  Lucy  Gwinn  "  steamed  toward  the 
Federal  vessels,  directing  their  attention  especially  to 
the  "Harriet  Lane,"  which  the  "Neptune"  struck 
amidships,  and  having  cleared  her  decks  by  fire  from 
small-arms,  the  crew  of  the  latter  were  preparing  to 
board  the  "  Lane  "  when  it  was  discovered  that  their 
own  vessel  was  damaged  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be 
sinking;  consequently  they  steamed  off  and  sunk  her. 
The  "  Bayou  City  "  next  attacked  the  Federal  vessel, 
and  boarded  her  and  forced  a  surrender.  The  other 
ships  of  the  enemy  managed  to  escape  out  of  the  har- 
bor, with  the  exception  of  the  "  Westfield,"  which  was 
burned. 

SUERENDER  OF  ARKANSAS  PoST. 

On  the  11th  of  January,  after  two  days'  attack  with 
both  water  and  land  forces,  the  enemy,  under  General 
MacClernand,  succeeded  in  forcing  the  surrender  of 
Arkansas  Post,  on  the  Arkansas  River,  which  was 
held  by  General  Churchill  with  over  three  thousand 
troops.     This  victory  was  important  to  the  Federals, 


1863.       MURFREESBORO- GALVESTON— ARKANSAS.         135 

in  that  it  gave  them  control  of  the  commerce  of  the 
Arkansas  River. 

Confederate  Rams  Attack  the  Federals  in 
Charleston  Harbor. 

In  Charleston  Harbor,  on  the  30th  of  January,  the 
Confederate  rams  moved  out  against  the  Federal 
fleet,  which  had  held  a  position  off  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor  for  over  a  month.  The  result  of  this  attack 
was  the  serious  disabling  of  the  "  Mercedita  "  and  the 
"  Key-stone  State,"  the  latter  vessel  losing  twenty-one 
men. 

The  Federal  gun-boat,  "  Queen  of  the  West,"  had 
managed  to  pass  the  Confederate  batteries  at  Yicks- 
burg,  and  was  committing  depredations  on  Red  River, 
where  she  had  also  taken  a  small  Confederate  boat, 
the  "Era,"  The  commander  of  the  "Queen  of  the 
West,"  had  forced  the  pilot  of  the  "Era,"  George 
Wood,  to  take  the  helm  of  the  "  Queen  of  the  West " 
and  direct  her  toward  the  capture  of  a  Confederate 
fort  on  the  river.  Wood  drove  her  ashore  just  oppo- 
site the  fort,  however,  and  turned  her  side  to  the  bat- 
teries, and,  in  the  confusion  which  followed  from  this 
movement,  succeeded  in  making  his  escape.  Part  of 
the  crew  of  the  "  Queen  of  the  West,"  and  her  com- 
mander, jumped  upon  cotton-bales  and  floated  down 
the  river;  but  the  remainder,  thirteen  in  number,  re- 
mained on  board  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  the 


136  THE  CIVIL  WAR,  1863. 

Confederates  took  possession.  In  like  manner  anoth- 
er Federal  vessel,  the  "  Indianola,"  had  succeeded  in 
passing  our  batteries,  and  for  some  time  had  been  a 
source  of  great  annoyance  in  the  damage  wiiich  she 
was  doing  to  Confederate  transportation.  Consequent- 
ly the  "Queen  of  the  West,"  the  "  Webb,"  the  "Era," 
and  the  "Dr.  Batey,"  under  the  command  of  Major 
Walker,  went  in  quest  of  the  enemy's  boat,  and  canae 
up  with  her  about  thirty  miles  below  Vicksburg  at 
nine  o'clock  on  the  night  of  February  24.  The  Con- 
federate boats  at  once  moved  to  the  attack,  and  after 
a  terrible  contest  of  over  an  hour's  duration  it  was 
found  that  the  "  Indianola  "  was  in  a  sinking  condi- 
tion. Consequently  her  officers  surrendered  their 
boat  with  the  crew,  which  numbered  one  hundred 
and  twenty  men. 

While  the  Confederates  were  thus  gaining  these 
successes  on  the  inland  waters  they  also  had  a  few 
privateers  upon  the  Atlantic,  which  were  doing  much 
damage  to  the  Federal  shipping,  and  the  exploits  of 
the  "Alabama"  and  the  "Florida"  were  such  as  even 
to  call  forth  from  the  North  a  merited  tribute  to  their 
efficiency. 


Dcbtnictioii  of  the  "  Ilatteras  "  by  the  Confederate  Steamer,  "Alabama," 
Admiral  Semiuesi  Commanding. 

(136) 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Impressment— Batteries  and  Gun-boats- 

BEFOEE  again  taking  up  the  thread  of  military 
operations  it  is  important  to  notice  briefly  the 
"Law  of  Impressment,"  which  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress was  forced  to  enact  on  account  of  a  scarcity  of 
provisions.  The  great  grain-producing  districts  had 
all  felt  the  iron  heel  of  war,  and  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky, which  had  heretofore  furnished  the  principal 
supply  of  meat  to  the  army,  was  now  in  the  hands  of 
the  Federals.  Moreover,  the  paper  money  of  the 
Confederacy,  with  no  assurance  back  of  it  save  a 
promise  to  pay  six  months  after  the  close  of  the  war, 
had  been  turned  loose  upon  the  country  to  such  an 
extent  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1863  there 
was  $300,000,000  in  circulation.  Consequently  it  had 
so  decreased  in  value  that  one  dollar  in  silver  was 
worth  four  dollars  in  paper.  Furthermore,  with  the 
scarcity  of  food  and  the  depreciated  value  of  the  cur- 
rency, the  South  was  cursed  with  the  misfortune  of 
speculation.  Foreigners  flooded  the  country,  and 
traded  and  speculated  in  the  very  necessities  of  life, 
inflating  the  prices  to  a  very  high  figure  even  for 
times  of  want  and  scarcity.     Therefore,  without  dis- 

(137) 


138  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1SG3. 

cussing  the  nature  and  condition  of  sucli  matters  any 
further,  it  is  very  evident  what  the  ultimate  results 
and  effects  should  be.  And  the  armies  of  the  South 
fighting  so  gloriously  in  the  face  of  such  circum- 
stances but  adds  another  evergreen  leaf  to  their  lau- 
rel'crown  of  honor. 

Federals  Attack  Fort  McAllister. 
On  the  3d  of  March  the  enemy  made  an  attack  with 
five  vessels  upon  Fort  McAllister,  on  the  Ogeechee 
Kiver,  near  Savannah,  Ga.  All  day  they  bombarded 
the  fort,  but  at  night  they  withdrew  with  one  of  their 
iron-clads  considerably  damaged,  Avhile  the  fort  had 
only  one  gun  dismounted,  and  within  its  walls  not  a 
single  life  was  lost. 

The  Federals  in  Front  of  Yicksburg. 

"The  enemy  had  three  distinct  projects  for  com- 
passing the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  First,  the  canal 
across  the  isthmus  opposite  the  city;  secondly,  the 
project  of  getting  through  the  Yazoo  Pass;  thirdly, 
the  Lake  Providence  canal  project.  It  had  been  all 
the  time  their  principal  aim  to  get  in  the  rear  or  be- 
low Vicksburg.  Their  present  plan  was  to  get 
through  the  Yazoo  Pass  in  the  hope  of  getting  in  our 
rear  and  cutting  off  our  supplies.  Their  idea  was  to 
flank  Yicksburg,  capture  Jackson,  cut  off  Grenada, 
and  destroy  all  possibility  of  our  getting  supplies 
throughout  that  rich  country  by  one  bold  stroke." 


1863.     IMPRESSMENT — BATTERIES  AND  GUN-BOATS.       139 

On  the  13th  of  March  they  began  active  operations 
by  an  attack  with  their  gun-boats  on  that  part  of  the 
Confederate  works  known  as  Fort  Pemberton,  situ- 
ated in  a  bend  of  the  Tallahatchie  River.  After  four 
hours  of  heavy  fighting  they  were  repulsed,  which 
thwarted  their  project  of  getting  to  the  lower  Yazoo 
by  this  route.  This  unexpected  defeat  produced  a 
lull  in  the  operations  of  the  enemy  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Vicksburg.  However,  they  next  turned 
their  attention  to  Port  Hudson,  "  a  strongly  fortified 
position  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  about  sixteen  miles 
above  Baton  Rouge,  and  three  hundred  below  Vicks- 
burg." Accordingly,  six  magnificent  ships  were  fitted 
out,  and  on  the  night  of  March  15,  under  the  command 
of  Admiral  Farragut,  they  attempted  to  pass  the  bat- 
teries, which  were  located  upon  a  high  bluff.  Si- 
lently these  mighty  war  monsters  passed  on,  with 
each  man  waiting  intently  at  his  gun ;  but  they  were 
discovered  when  just  opposite  the  batteries,  and  the 
alarm  was  given.  Immediately  the  ships  opened  the 
thunders  of  their  artillery  upon  the  Confederates, 
who  endured  the  fire  in  silence  until  they  all  got 
within  easy  range,  when  they  let  loose  such  a  storm 
of  shot  and  shell  upon  the  enemy  that  it  soon  be- 
came evident  that  it  meant  destruction  for  the  ships 
to  pass.  Therefore  all  except  the  "  Hartford  "  turned 
around  and  began  to  steam  back  in  the  midst  of  a  fire 
that  furnished  a  grand  scene  as  shell  after  shell  cut 


140  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

its  bright  way  through  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
All  managed  to  escape,  more  or  less  injured,  except 
the  "Mississippi,"  whose  rudder  was  broken  and  ma- 
chinery so  damaged  that  she  floated  aimlessly  to  the 
opposite  shore,  giving  the  batteries  a  good  opportu- 
nity to  tear  her  literally  to  pieces.  Most  of  her  crew 
succeeded  in  escaping,  but  the  wounded  were  left  on 
board  the  doomed  vessel,  which  floated  off  down  the 
river,  and  when  near  Baton  Rouge  her  magazine  ex- 
ploded, sending  to  the  bottom  of  the  river  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  ships  of  the  United  States  Navy. 

During  the  time  of  these  engagements  in  the  West 
the  armies  both  in  Virginia  and  in  Tennessee  only 
watched  each  other,  without  any  offensive  movements 
being  made  on  either  side.  But  the  monotony  was 
somewhat  broken  by  a  force  of  the  enemy  three  thou- 
sand strong  crossing  the  Rappahannock  River  at  Kel- 
ly's Ford  on  the  morning  of  March  17.  They  contin- 
ued their  march  until  within  six  miles  of  Culpepper 
Court-house,  when  they  were  attacked  by  General 
Fitzhugh  Lee's  Brigade,  and  after  several  hours  of 
hard  fighting  they  were  routed  and  driven  back. 
The  Confederates  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  about 
one  hundred  men,  among  whom  was  the  youthful  and 
gallant  Major  Pelham,  of  Alabama,  who,  although  but 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  had  been  through  all  the 
battles  in  Virginia,  and  had  won  that  enduring  fame 
and  honor  which  only  comes  to  men  after  long  expe- 


1863.    IMPRESSMENT — BATTERIES  AND  GUN-BOATS.       141 

rience  and  service  of  many  years.  Peace  be  to  the 
ashes  of  this  "boy  major!"  and  may  the  roses  of 
immortality  ever  bloom  over  his  grave,  inasmuch  as 
he  typified  in  his  own  person  and  death  all  of  that 
fresh,  glorious,  young  manhood  of  the  South  that 
went  down  in  the  awful  struggle,  even  though  they 
wore  not  upon  their  shoulders  the  straps  of  rank,  and 
lie  in  nameless  graves! 

The  Federals  Eepulsed  from  Charleston. 

To  the  minds  of  the  Federals  Charleston,  S.  C, 
was  the  "cradle  of  the  rebellion."  Therefore  its  cap- 
ture was  to  them  a  matter  of  supreme  importance. 
With  this  in  view,  for  many  months  they  had  been 
bending  their  energies  toward  a  signal  and  decisive 
attack  upon  this  city.  The  known  purpose  and  de- 
signs of  the  enemy  had  kept  the  citizens  of  Charles- 
ton in  a  state  of  suspense  until  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  April  7,  when  a  part  of  the  enemy's 
fleet,  which  consisted  of  more  than  seventy  vessels, 
moved  to  attack  Fort  Sumter.  The  joy  of  an  antici- 
pated victory  took  the  place  of  doubt  and  suspense 
when,  in  the  midst  of  the  strains  of  "  Dixie,"  the  iron 
throats  of  our  cannon  spoke  forth  their  volleys  of 
death  and  destruction.  The  fleet  advanced  in  two 
divisions,  lead  respectively  by  the  iron-clads,  "  Iron- 
sides "  and  "  Keokuk,"  which  delivered  a  tremendous 
fire  upon  the  walls  of  both  Forts  Sumter  and  Morris, 


142  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863, 

and  in  return  they  received  a  crushing  tempest  of 
iron  hail  from  the  heavy  guns  of  the  two  forts,  so 
that  they  were  forced  to  withdraw  out  of  range.  So 
effective,  indeed,  was  the  fire  of  the  Confederates  un- 
der tlie  skillful  Beauregard  that  it  was  discovered  on 
the  next  day  that  the  "Keokuk"  had  been  sunk  near 
Morris  Island.  Thus  the  enemy  had  been  brilliantly 
repulsed  from  Charleston,  with  a  loss  on  the  part  of 
the  defenders  of  only  one  man  killed  and  five  wound- 
ed. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Chancellorsville—Vicksburg— Gettysburg.     ^ 

AS  the  different  attempts  upon  Richmond  failed, 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  Federal  Government 
to  take  each  unsuccessful  general  from  command,  and 
to  supply  his  place  with  a  new  one.  It  now  became 
General  Hooker's  turn  to  try  the  fortunes  of  war  with 
the  sagacious  Lee.  Accordingly,  with  an  army  be- 
hind him  which  he  himself  said  was  "  the  finest  on 
the  planet,"  on  Monday,  April  26,  he  began  the 
crossing  of  the  Rappahannock  in  three  large  divis- 
ions. One  was  to  cross  at  Kelly's  Ford;  another  at 
Deep  Run,  three  miles  below  Fredericksburg;  and  a 
third  at  United  States  Ford,  "  just  below  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Rappahannock  and  Rapidan."  By  Thurs- 
day, April  29,  Hooker  had  successfully  accomplished 
all  of  these  movements,  and  had  fortified  himself  in 
a  strong  position  "across  the  turnpike  and  plank 
road  at  Chancellorsville,  eleven  miles  from  Freder- 
icksburg, in  order  to  cut  off  our  anticipated  retreat 
in  the  direction  of  Gordonsville."  These  arrange- 
ments and  plans  on  the  part  of  the  Federals  did  not 
escape  the  watchful  eye  of  General  Lee,  and  as  soon 

as  it  was  discovered  that  the  enemy  had  crossed  the 

(143) 


144  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863, 

river  at  Kelly's  and  Ellis's  Fords  Wright's  Brigade 
was  ordered  to  the  support  of  the  Confederate  forces, 
eight  thousand  in  number,  under  Generals  Anderson, 
Posey,  and  Mahone,  who  "  had  been  for  several  weeks 
stationed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ely's  Ford,  on  the 
Rapidan,  and  the  United  States  Ford,  on  the  Rappa- 
hannock, guarding  the  approaches  to  Fredericksburg 
in  that  direction."  During  the  night  o^  Thursday, 
April  29,  General  Lee  himself,  with  Anderson's  and 
McLaw's  Divisions,  took  a  position  in  front  of  the 
enemy,  while  he  sent  General  Jackson  around  to  gain 
their  rear.  This  skillful  movement  was  successfully 
accomplished  by  the  afternoon  of  May  2,  when  Jack- 
son hurled  his  veterans  against  the  enemy's  right 
and  rear.  Sigel's  Corps  of  Germans  was  the  unfortu- 
nate portion  of  the  Federal  army  that  received  Jack- 
son's characteristic  charge,  which  threw  them  in  con- 
fusion upon  the  guns  of  Anderson's  and  McLaw's 
Divisions,  through  whose  lines  they  attempted  to 
break,  but  only  to  be  sent  back  in  a  panic-stricken 
retreat  toward  the  river.  There  was  now  a  lull  in 
the  battle  until  nine  o'clock,  when  General  Stuart 
took  command,  Generals  Jackson  and  Hill  both  hav- 
ing been  wounded.  In  accordance  with  instructions 
from  the  former,  General  Stuart  continued  to  batter 
the  right  wing  of  the  enemy  until  he  had  driven  it  in 
upon  the  center.  At  daylight  Sunday  morning  the 
battle  was  renewed  by  the  Confederates  making  a 


1863.  CHANCELLORSVILLE.  145 

gallant  charge  upon  the  fortifications  and  rifle-pits  of 
the  Federals.  With  that  same  grand  courage  that 
had  always  marked  them,  they  swept  the  enemy  be- 
fore them  in  rout  and  confusion.  The  Confederates 
now  seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  a  great  and  deci- 
sive victory,  and  General  Lee  moved  his  forces  to  the 
plank-road  above  Chancellorsville. 

But  while  thus  successful  in  this  part  of  their  lines 
the  .Confederates  were  defeated  at  Fredericksburg, 
■where  Barksdale's  Brigade  and  Early's  Division 
held  a  position  extending  from  Mayre's  Hill  to  Ham- 
ilton's Crossing.  With  two  thousand  troops,  the 
Washington  Artillery,  and  Read's  Battery,  stationed 
on  a  hill,  General  Barksdale  occupied  the  left  wing. 
Against  these  small  numbers  the  enemy  hurled  Gib- 
bins's  Division  and  Sedgewick's  Corps,  twenty  thou- 
sand strong.  Three  times  did  they  throw  the  weight 
of  their  immense  numbers  upon  the  brave  little  band 
on  the  heights,  and  each  time  they  were  sent  back 
broken  in  ranks,  with  their  dead  lying  thick  on  the 
hill-side.  About  nine  o'clock  in  the  day,  under  the 
pretense  of  carrying  back  their  wounded,  the  enemy 
sent  a  flag  of  truce,  and  by  that  means  learned  how 
very  few  were  the  defenders  of  the  heights.  They 
at  once,  therefore,  with  Gibbins's  entire  command, 
attacked  the  left,  which  was  held  by  Colonel  Hum- 
phreys with  the  Twenty-first  Mississippi  Regiment. 
After  a  heroic  resistance  on  the  side  of  the  Confed- 
10 


146  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G3. 

erates  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  enemy  pre- 
vailed. 

Hearing  of  this  reverse,  General  Lee  turned  his 
attention  for  tlie  time  from  Hooker,  and  sent  Ander- 
son's and  McLaw's  Divisions  to  put  a  stop  upon  tlie 
progress  of  Sedgewick,  which  they  succeeded  in  do- 
ing, when  night  put  an  end  to  the  contest.  The  next 
day  the  enemy  prepared  to  renew  the  battle  by  con- 
centrating their  forces  against  the  left  flank  of  Mc- 
Law's Division.  In  doing  this,  however,  they  weak- 
ened their  own  left,  of  which  General  Lee  at  once 
proceeded  to  take  advantage  by  massing  Early's 
and  Anderson's  Divisions  at  this  point,  and  as  the 
red  glow  of  the  setting  sun  colored  the  western  sky 
the  boys  in  gray  once  more  charged  the  enemy  and 
sent  them  shattered  and  broken  to  Banks's  Ford,  thus 
brilliantly  putting  an  end  to  this  series  of  conflicts  on 
the  4th  of  May. 

But  it  was  the  purpose  of  General  Lee  not  to  let 
the  contest  end  here,  and  accordingly  he  began  the 
disposition  of  his  troops  so  as  to  completely  destroy 
the  army  of  Hooker.  Fortunately,  however,  for  the 
latter  a  violent  storm  set  in,  which  caused  a  lull  in 
General  Lee's  operations,  and  allowed  the  Federals 
to  escape  across  the  river. 

To  sum  up  the  fruits  of  the  victory,  an  army  of 
fifty  thousand  men  had  met  and  put  to  rout  an  army 
"variously  estimated  at  from  one  hundred  thousand 


1863.  CHANCELLORSVILLE.  147 

to  one  hundred   and  fifty  thousand."     Besides,  the 

Confederates  had  taken  large  amounts  of  supplies, 

seven  thousand  prisoners,  four  thousand  stands  of 

arms,  and  had  punished  the  enemy  to  the  extent  of 

twenty-five  thousand  in   killed  and  wounded.     But 

the  sun  of  victory  was  clouded.     To  the  Confederate 

soldiers  the  laurels  of  Chancellorsville  will  ever  be 

draped  in  the  sable  hue  of  mourning  for  their  ideal 

leader— great  even   among    the   greatest  of  earth's 

great  captains— who  laid  down  his  command  to  enlist 

in  that  immortal  army  where  battles  and  wars  are  not 

known. 

Death  of  General  Jackson. 

About  eight  o'clock  Saturday  night,  May  2,  as 
"  Stonewall "  Jackson  was  returning  into  his  line,  ac- 
companied by  his  staff,  being  mistaken  for  a  cavalry 
detachment  of  the  enemy,  they  were  fired  into  by  the 
first  line  of  Confederate  skirnjishers.  General  Jack- 
son received  three  balls — two  in  the  left  arm  and  one 
through  the  palm  of  the  right  hand.  He  was  borne 
from  the  field  much  exhausted  from  loss  of  blood. 
He  rallied,  however,  and  his  arm  was  amputated. 
This  operation  was  successfully  accomplished,  and  it 
was  thought  that  the  soldier  would  live  to  fight  other 
battles  in  behalf  of  the  cause  which  to  him  was  al- 
most as  sacred  as  the  religion  that  shaped  and  direct- 
ed every  action  of  his  life.  But  unfortunately,  in  a 
few  days  pneumonia  set  in,  and  by  the  eighth  day 


148  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

from  the  time  he  had  received  his  wounds  it  was 
seen  that  he  was  dying.  With  the  wife  of  his  heart 
by  his  bedside,  and  filled  with  that  ever  abiding  faith 
in  the  great  God  of  battles  as  the  disposer  of  all 
things  for  the  best,  Thomas  J.  Jackson,  the  grandest 
soldier  in  the  greatest  war  of  modern  times,  laid  * 
aside  the  earthly  part  of  himself,  and  entered  into 
that  inheritance  prepared  for  those  who  live  pure  and 
undefiled  before  God  and  man.  "His  last  thoughts 
vibrated  between  religious  subjects  and  the  battle- 
field: now  asking  some  question  about  the  Bible  or 
Church  history;  and  then  giving  an  order — 'Pass 
the  infantry  to  the  front;'  'Tell  Major  Hawks  to 
send  forward  provisions  to  the  men;'  'Let  us  cross 
over  the  river,  and  rest  under  the  shade  of  the  trees ' 
— until  at  last  the  gallant  spirit  gently  passed  over 
the  dark  river,  and  entered  into  its  rest." 

Loss  OF  YlCKSBURG. 

It  now  becomes  necessary  to  again  return  to  the 
progress  of  events  on  the  Mississippi  River.  Begin- 
ning on  the  1st  of  May,  the  enemy  had  successively 
defeated  the  Confederates  at  Port  Gibson,  Bayou 
Pierre,  captured  Jackson,  the  capital  of  the  State  of 
Mississippi,  fought  and  driven  back  the  Confeder- 
ates at  Baker's  Creek  and  Big  Black  Bridge,  and  by 
the  18th  had  succeeded  in  investing  Vicksburg.  On 
the  21st  General  Grant  made  a  general  attack  upon 


1863.  VICKSBURG.  149 

the  Confederate  fortifications,  but  was  repulsed  with 
great  loss.  He  then  settled  himself  down  for  a  long 
siege,  which  the  defenders  of  the  city  felt  perfectly 
confident  they  could  endure.  The  siege  was  con- 
tinued until  July  4,  when  the  whole  country  was 
horrified  by  the  announcement  that  Yicksburg  had 
surrendered,  throwing  into  the  hands  of  the  Federals 
twenty  thousand  prisoners.  The  causes  that  led  to 
the  giving  up  of  this  the  key  to  the  whole  lower  Mis- 
sissippi region  have  been  much  discussed;  but  it 
will  be  sufficient  here  to  say  that  the  garrison  were 
worn  out  and  exhausted,  and  General  Pemberton, 
learning  that  the  enemy  were  contemplating  a  gener- 
al assault,  rather  than  expose  his  weakened  troops  to 
the  horrors  of  a  slaughter  that  must  necessarily  fol- 
low from  their  condition,  turned  the  city  over  to  the 

Federals. 

Invasion  of  Pennsylvania. 

Returning  again  to  Yirginia,  General  Ewell  had 
followed  up  the  success  at  Chancellorsville  by  falling 
upon  General  Milroy  at  "Winchester  and  Martins- 
burg.  Of  this  Federal  defeat  the  New  York  Herald 
gave  the  following  account: 

Not  a  thing  was  saved  except  that  which  was  worn  upon  the 
persons  of  the  troops.  Three  entire  batteries  of  field  artillery 
and  one  battery  of  siege  gnns— in  fact,  all  the  artillery  of  the 
command — about  two  hundred  and  eighty  wagons,  over  one 
thousand  two  hundred  horses  and  mules,  all  the  commissary 
and  quartermaster's  stores  and  ammunition  of  all  kinds,  over  six 


150  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

thousand  muskets  and  small-arms  without  stint,  the  private 
baggage  of  officers  and  men— all  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  ene- 
my. Of  the  seven  thousand  men  of  the  command,  but  from 
sixteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  have  as  yet  arrived  here, 
leaving  to  be  accounted  for  five  thousand  men. 

From  this  position  Ewell  moved  rapidly  up  the 
Potomac  Eiver,  followed  by  Longstreet  and  Hill. 
These  movements  threw  the  North  into  the  greatest 
confusion,  for  they  feared  that  the  Confederates 
meant  a  prompt  attack  upon  Washington.  But  Gen- 
eral Lee  contented  hiinself  with  the  invasion  of 
Pennsylvania,  though  not  after  the  manner  of  the 
Federal  troops,  who  had  pillaged  and  robbed  every 
Southern  State  through  which  they  had  passed.  In 
keeping  with  the  magnanimity  of  his  great  heart. 
General  Lee  pr9tected  the  lives  and  the  property  of 
the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  when  he  might  have 
retaliated  for  the  burned  homes,  the  desolated  fields 
that  had  been  left  in  the  track  of  the  enemy  through 
a  land  which  had  been  blessed  by  the  lavish  hand  of 
nature  and  the  skillful  hand  of  art,  but  which  now 
seemed  like  one  of  the  earth's  waste  places. 

Battle  of  Gettysburg. 
General  Lee's  line  of  march  was  brought  to  a  stop 
on  the  1st  of  July  by  the  enemy  confronting  him  at 
Gettysburg,  with  General  Meade  in  command.  The 
Federals  immediately  began  with  an  attack  upon  A. 
P.  Hill's  and  a  part  of  Ewell's  Corps,  but  they  were 


1863.  GETTYSBURG.  151 

driven  back  to  the  mountains  south  of  the  town. 
With  this  the  first  day's  fight  ended.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  (Thursday)  each  army  seemed  to  wait  for 
the  other  to  attack,  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when 
Longstreet  took  the  initiative  by  hurling  his  corps 
against  the  Federal  left  on  Round  Top  Hill.  For 
four  long  hours  the  awful  storm  of  battle  raged,  and 
when  night  came  it  was  found  that  both  sides  had 
sustained  a  frightful  loss  of  life,  with  nothing  deci- 
sive gained  by  either.  Each  army  was  now  straining 
every  nerve  to  the  utmost  tension  for  the  memorable 
struggle  of  Friday.  The  Federal  position  was  an  al- 
most impregnable  one  on  the  heights  south  of  Get- 
tysburg. "All  the  heights  and  every  advantageous 
position  along  the  entire  line  where  artillery  could 
be  massed  or  a  battery  planted  frowned  down  upon 
the  Confederates  through  brows  of  brass  and  iron. 
On  the  slopes  of  this  mcTuntain  occurred  one  of  the 
most  terrific  contests  of  modern  times,  in  which  three 
hundred  cannon  were  belching  forth  their  thunders 
at  one  time,  and  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  mus- 
kets were  being  discharged  as  rapidly  as  men  hurried 
with  excitement  and  passion  could  load  them."  Early 
in  the  morning  this  grand  spectacle  began,  continuing 
all  day,  with  only  an  intermission  of  a  few  hours  from 
about  ten  o'clock  to  about  one  o'clock.  The  principal 
attack  of  the  Confederates  was  directed  against  the 
enemy's  center.      Pickett's   Division  of   Virginians, 


152  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

supported  by  Heth's  Division,  under  the  command  of 
General  Pettigrew  on  the  left,  and  Wilson's  Brigade 
on  the  right,  charged  this  position,  and  that  charge 
made  "Pickett's  Virginians"  a  synonym  for  all  those 
qualities  of  knightly  courage  and  superb  endurance 
which  put  a  nimbus  of  divine  glory  around  the  sol- 
diers' conduct  upon  the  battle-field.  On  these  devot- 
ed sons  of  the  "  Old  Dominion "  pressed  in  the  face 
of  a  fire  which  was  so  rapid  and  continuous  that  it 
seemed  but  one  solid,  unbroken  sheet  of  flame  that 
was  scorching  to  the  earth  line  after  line,  like  the 
grass  on  the  Western  prairie  is  consumed.  But  they 
never  faltered  until  they  set  their  battle-stained  flag 
upon  the  Federal  fortifications.  All  in  vain  was  their 
sacrifice,  for  the  enemy  moved  heavy  columns  toward 
their  rear,  and,  having  victory  in  their  grasp,  unsup- 
ported, they  were  compelled  to  fall  back.  But  there 
was  no  confusion  in  the  retteat,  even  though  the  mor- 
tality in  their  lines  was  greater  than  it  was  daring 
the  charge.  They  reached  their  own  lines;  and  the 
dead  with  which  they  strewed  the  field  is  a  noble 
testimony  to  their  valor.  "Every  brigadier  in  the 
division  was  killed  or  wounded.  Out  of  twenty  reg- 
imental officers  only  two  escaped  unhurt.  The 
colonels  of  five  Virginia  regiments  were  killed.  The 
Ninth  Virginia  went  in  two  hundred  and  fifty  strong, 
and  came  out  with  only  thirty-eight  men." 

The  Federal  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing 


1863.  GETTYSBURG.  153 

is  given  at  twenty-three  thousand,  while  the  Confed- 
erate loss,  though  terrible  enough,  was  hardly  this 
much. 

After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  General  Lee  left  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy  the  palm  of  a  doubtful  vic- 
tory, and  conducted  an  orderly  retreat  back  into  Vir- 
ginia. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Siege  of  Charleston— Morgan's  Raid. 

NOT  satisfied  with  the  repulse  of  their  fleet  from 
Charleston  April  7,  the  enemy,  under  General 
Gilmore,  now  determined  upon  vigorous  operations 
by  putting  the  city  in  a  state  of  siege.  Immediately 
after  their  reverse  the  Federals  in  large  force  occu- 
pied Folly  Island,  constructing  in  secret  works  which 
would  enable  them  to  drive  the  Confederate  batteries 
from  Morris  Island.  Not  anticipating  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy  which  were  to  follow,  so  many 
troops  had  been  drawn  from  General  Beauregard  to 
strengthen  other  positions  that  he  was  left  with  a 
force  inadequate  for  the  defense  and  maintenance  of 
all  his  batteries  in  the  harbor.  Having  finished  on 
the  morning  of  August  10,  under  cover  of  darkness, 
the  erection  of  their  fort,  the  enemy  opened  with 
their  batteries  upon  Fort  Morris,  and  sent  a  detach- 
ment on  foot  to  attack  Fort  Wagner.  This  latter  ex- 
pedition came  to  grief,  for  when  the  fire  of  the  heavy 
guns  of  the  fort  was  turned  upon  them  they  broke 
and  ran  in  confusion,  with  a  considerable  loss  of  life. 
This  reverse,  hpwever,  did  not  thwart  the  purposes  of 
the  enemy,  for,  gaining  a  foot-hold  on  Morris  Island, 
(154) 


1863.        SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON — MORGAN'S  RAID.  155 

they  constructed  a  battery  at  a  distance  of  a  little 
over  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Fort  Wagner.  From 
this  position  and  the  one  on  Black  Island,  together 
with  their  fleet  of  monitors  and  gun-boats,  at  the 
dawn  of  day,  August  18,  they  turned  the  thunders  of 
their  guns  upon  the  Confederate  fort.  All  day  the 
bombardment  was  kept  up,  old  Fort  Sumter  and 
Battery  Gregg,  at  Cummings's  Point,  contributing 
their  share  of  the  awful  din  of  the  cannonading. 
But  when  the  shadows  of  evening  began  to  fall  the 
Federals  moved  an  infantry  column,  with  a  negro 
regiment  in  front,  to  attack  the  fort.  With  a  de- 
structive fire  thinning  their  ranks,  they  pushed  their 
way  with  signal  gallantry  to  the  walls  of  the  fort,  and 
began  to  clamber  over  the  breastworks.  Here  a  des- 
perate and  bloody  hand-to-hand  encounter  took  place. 
As  fast  as  the  Confederates  would  beat  back  one  line 
of  their  assailants  another  fresh  line  would  take  their 
place.  But  finally,  after  lining  the  parapet  walls  wdth 
their  dead,  the  enemy  gave  way,  and  beat  a  full  re- 
treat across  the  beach  in  the  darkness.  However, 
the  Federals  were  not  yet  prepared  to  give  up  the  fort 
without  another  struggle.  Consequently  in  less  than 
half  an  hour  the  defenders  of  the  fort  found  them- 
selves again  battling  with  a  fresh  column  of  the  ene- 
my; but  the  latter  were  repulsed  even  more  disas- 
trously than  those  who  had  participated  in  the  first 
attack,  for  they  left  behind  between  two  and  three 


156  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

hundred  prisoners.  In  both  of  these  attacks  the  en- 
emy gave  their  mortality  at  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty, 
while  the  Confederates  only  suffered  to  the  extent  of 
a  little  over  one  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded. 

Despairing  of  taking  the  forts  by  attack  and  bom- 
bardment, the  Federal  general  resorted  to  other 
means  hardly  in  keeping  with  the  most  approved 
methods  of  civilized  warfare.  On  the  21st  of  Au- 
gust he  informed  General  Beauregard  in  an  unsigned 
note  that  unless  Fort  Sumter  and  Morris  Island  were 
evacuated  within  four  hours  he  would  turn  his  guns 
upon  the  city  of  Charleston.  Without  giving  the 
necessary  time  for  a  reply,  General  Gilmore  carried 
out  his  threat  by  actually  sending  his  missiles  of 
death  into  the  midst  of  the  defenseless  city.  Beaure- 
gard's reply  to  the  act  is  worthy  to  be  recorded  here: 

It  would  appear,  sir,  that,  despairing  of  reducing  these  works, 
you  now  resort  to  the  novel  means  of  turning  your  guns  against 
the  old  men,  the  women  and  the  children,  and  the  hospitals  of 
the  sleeping  city.  .  .  .  And  your  omission  to  attach  your 
signature  to  such  a  grave  paper  (the  demand  for  the  evacuation 
of  the  forts)  must  show  the  recklessness  of  the  course  upon 
which  you  have  ventured,  while  the  fact  that  j'ou  knowingly 
fixed  a  limit  for  receiving  an  answer  to  your  demand,  which 
made  it  almost  beyond  the  possibility  of  receiving  an  answer 
in  that  time,  and  that  you  actually  did  open  fire  and  throw  a 
number  of  the  most  destructive  missiles  ever  used  in  war  into 
the  midst  of  a  city  taken  xmawares  and  filled  with  sleeping 
women  and  children,  will  give  you  a  bad  eminence  in  history, 
even  in  the  history^of  this  war. 


1863.        SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON — MORGAN'S  RAID. '        157 

For  three  days  (August  21,  22,  and  23)  the  enemy 
kept  up  a  continuous  fire  upon  the  walls  of  Fort 
Sumter,  doing  considerable  damage.  Meanwhile 
they  not  only  did  not  cease  their  efforts  against  Fort 
Wagner,"  but  on  the  5th  of  September  they  also 
turned  their  attention  to  Fort  Moultrie  and  Battery 
Gregg.  Upon  the  latter  they  made  an  especially 
vigorous  attack  by  trying  to  get  in  the  rear  of  the 
fortifications;  but  they  were  repulsed  by  the  effective 
fire  from  the  fort,  and  were  forced  to  give  up  their  at- 
tempt. But  both  Morris  Island  and  Battery  Gregg 
had  suffered  so  much  from  this  continuous  bombard- 
ment of  over  fifty  days  that,  perceiving  that  they 
were  no"  longer  tenable,  on  the  night  of  September  6 
General  Beauregard  accomplished  a  successful  evac- 
uation, leaving  these  two  positions,  which  had  been 
so  long  coveted,  in  the  hands  of  the  Federals.  Two 
days  later  Admiral  Dahlgreen,  the  commander  of  the 
Federal  fleet,  sent  a  demand  to  General  Beauregard 
for  the  immediate  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter,  to  which 
the  reply  was  given  that  they  could  have  it  when  they 
took  it.  With  this,  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
September  9  the  enemy  began  to  assail  the  walls  of 
the  old  fort  that  had  so  long  stood  between  them  and 
their  much  longed  for  prize.  The  Charleston  Bat- 
talion, under  Major  Elliot,  were  watching  and  wait- 
ing, and  they  reserved  their  fire  until  their  assailants 
were  close  upon  them,  when  they  opened  upon  them 


158  THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1863. 

with  such  volleys  that  this  "ruin"  (as  the  Federal 
commanders  had  reported  to  the  Government  at 
Washington)  seemed  fairly  vocal  with  the  thunder  of 
weapons  that  meant  death  to  the  Federals.  How- 
ever, the  latter  managed  to  land,  and  for  half  an 
hour  engaged  the  Confederates  in  a  stubborn  hand- 
to-hand  contest,  when  they  were  forced  to  surrender. 
The  Federal  reserve  line,  which  had  been  left  in  the 
boat,  pulled  off  and  escaped,  though  followed  by  the 
shells  that  Fort  Moultrie  sent  whistling  after  them. 
With  not  the  loss  of  a  single  life,  the  Confederates 
found  in  their  possession  as  the  fruits  of  the  conflict 
one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  including  twel.ve  offi- 
cers, with  five  stands  of  colors. 

General  Morgan's  Raid. 

Leaving  for  a  time  the  city  of  Charleston  to  the 
fruitless  attacks  of  the  enemy,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  mountains  General  John  Morgan  was  preparing 
to  set  out  from  Sparta,  Tenn.,  with  only  two  thousand 
troops,  for  that  romantic  raid  of  his  into  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  He  began  his  exploits  by  attacking  the 
enemy  at  Green  River  Bridge  on  July  4;  but  their 
fortifications  were  too  strong,  and  he  had  to  content 
himself  with  the  capture  of  Lebanon  on  the  next  day, 
in  which  he  took  six  hundred  men  and  many  stores 
and  arms.  In  the  gallant  charge  which  he  made 
upon  this   place   his   brother,   Lieutenant    Thomas 


1863.        SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON — MORGAN'S  RAID.  159 

Morgan,  fell  mortally  wounded  with  these  words  on 
his  lips:  "Brother  Cally,  they  have  killed  me." 

.Thence  Morgan  proceeded  through  Central  Ken- 
tucky to  Bardstown,  taking  a  company  of  cavalry  as 
prisoners.  There  is  a  peculiar  and  striking  feature 
connected  with  the  Confederate  advance  through  this 
portion  of  Kentucky,  in  that  they  were  in  the  midst 
of  their  own  homes  and  were  forced  to  carry  war 
upon  friends  and  neighbors,  or  even  father,  brother, 
or  other  kinsmen  who  may  have  espoused  the  Fed- 
eral cause,  while  they  themselves  were  following  the 
banner  of  the  "Southern  Cross."  These  divisions  of 
family  in  Kentucky  even  marred  the  relation  of  hus- 
band and  wife,  for  the  narrator  of  these  events  knew 
personally  of  a  case  where  the  husband  was  a  gallant 
soldier  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  wife  was  an  effi- 
cient and  valued  sprj  in  the  service  of  the  Federal 
army.  Under  such  circumstances  many  a  Kentucky 
mother  has  mourned  a  soldier-boy  whose  heart's  best 
blood  stained  a  gray  jacket  at  Shiloh,  and  another 
perhaps  lay  upon  the  same  dread  field  with  his  body 
wrapped  in  blue  for  his  winding  sheet. 

But  General  Morgan  continued  his  march,  threat- 
ening Louisville,  and  crossing  the  Ohio  Kiver  at 
Brandenburg.  On  the  8th  of  July  he  captured  the 
Indiana  town  of  Cory  don,  with  six  hundred  prison- 
ers. Thence,  destroying  railroads,  telegraph  commu- 
nications, and  all  manner  of  Government  stores,  he 


160  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

advanced  into  the  interior  of  the  State,  creating  the 
greatest  amount  of  consternation  and  terror  among 
the  astonished  Federals. 

Learning  that  the  enemy  were  concentrating  large 
forces  at  Indianapolis,  New  Albany,  and  Mitchell, 
Morgan  left  Indiana,  and  entered  the  borders  of 
Ohio,  throwing  Cincinnati  into  a  spasm  of  fear.  He 
proceeded  to  harass  the  enemy  as  he  had  done  in  the 
former  State,  until  at  Pomeroy  he  encountered  the 
Federals  several  thousand  strong.  Leaving  part  of 
his  forces  to  hold  these  in  check,  with  the  main  body 
he  attempted  to  cross  the  river  at  Buffington  Island 
early  on  the  morning  of  July  18.  Prevented  from 
accomplishing  this  undertaking  by  the  gun-boats  of 
the  enemy,  he  again  tried  farther  up  the  river  at 
Bellville,  but  only  succeeded  in  getting  about  two 
hundred  of  his  command  across.  These  latter 
managed  to  make  their  escape  back  to  the  Confeder- 
ate lines,  but  most  of  the  others  who  had  been  left  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  among  whom  was  the  gallant  Morgan  him- 
self, who  was  captured  after  an  exciting  chase  near 
West  Point,  and  confined  in  the  Ohio  penitentiary 
until  the  20th  of  November,  when,  with  six  of  his 
officers,  he  effected  his  escape  by  digging  out  with 
knives. 

Though  the  end  of  this  e^edition  is  to  be  accounted 
a  failure,  yet,  relatively,  the  two  thousand  pnsoners 


1863.        SIEGE  OF  CHARLESTON— MORGAN'S   RAID.         161 

which  fell  to  the  Federals  were  more  than  compen- 
sated for  by  the  loss  which  this  intrepid  ciivalryman 
inflicted  upon  them;  for  he  had  overrun  two  large, 
rich  States,  throwing  them  into  a  state  of  complete 
demoralization,  stopping  all  trade,  business,  farming,  , 
destroying  railroads,  bridges,  public  property,  steam- 
boats, and  telegraph  systems,  all  of  which  in  the  ag- 
gregate will  amount  to  many  millions  of  dollars. 
Consequently  the  capture  of  General  Morgan  and 
his  men  by  the  Federals  is  deprived  of  most  of  its 
glory  in  that  it  came  too  late,  for  the  purposes  of  the 
invasion  were  virtually  accomplished. 
11 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Chickamauga— Martial  Law  in  Kentucky. 

THE  preceding  chapters  in  regard  to  military 
events  in  the  West  seem  to  furnish  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  brilliant  successes  in  Virginia.  After 
the  battle  of  Murfreesboro  General  Bragg  had  fallen 
back  to  TuUahoma.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  War- 
trace  and  Shelbyville,  with  his  army  much  weakened 
by  the  forces  which  had  been  drawn  from  it  to 
strengthen  the  South-west.  By  a  flank  movement 
on  the  27tli  of  June  the  enemy  forced  the  Confeder- 
ates to  fall  back  to  Chattanooga.  General  Rosecrans 
slowly  followed  with  his  army  of  seventy  thousand 
men,  arriving  at  Stevenson  and  Bridgeport  by  Au- 
gust 20. 

At  the  same  time  another  movement  was  in  prog- 
ress against  the  Confederates.  General  Burnside, 
with  an  army  of  at  least  twenty-five  thousand  men, 
moved  from  Kentucky  against  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
which  was  held  by  General  Buckner  with  five  thou- 
sand troops.  Feeling  his  inability  to  cope  with  such 
large  numbers,  the  latter  evacuated  the  city,  and 
moved  to  join  General  Bragg  at  Chattanooga,  leav- 
ing, however,  at  Cumberland  Gap  General  Frazier 
(1G2) 


1863.  CHICKAMAUGA.  163 

with  two  thousand  troops.  Against  this  position  the 
Federals  turned  their  attention,  and  on  the  9th  of 
September  General  Frazier,  without  firing  a  single 
gun,  surrendered  the  garrison  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  This  movement  was  a  painful  surprise  to  tiie 
whole  country,  and  even  to  the  garrison  themselves; 
for  it  was  thought  that  the  position  could  have  been 
held  against  the  force  with  which  the  enemy  were  in- 
vesting it. 

Battle  of  Chickamauga. 

While  General  Burnside  was  pressing  General 
Buckuer  in  front.  General  Bosecraus  had  sent  a 
corps  up  the  Sequatchie  Valley  to  give  him  a  blow 
in  his  rear.  Though  somewhat  re-enforced,  General 
Buckuer's  command  was  not  yet  large  enough  to 
meet  the  enemy,  so  he  retreated  to  Hiwassee.  The 
purpose  of  the  Federals  seemed  to  be  to  threaten  the 
Confederate  rear;  but  the  latter,  though  having  at 
the  highest  estimate  but  thirty-five  thousand  men, 
determined  to  offer  battle  at  the  first  opportunity. 
Therefore,  on  the  7th  of  September  General  D.  H. 
Hill  moved  with  his  corps  to  La  Fayette,  and  General 
Buckner,  with  the  Army  of  East  Tennessee,  and  Gen- 
eral Walker,  with  a  division  of  the  Army  of  Missis- 
sippi, took  a  position  at  Anderson,  while  General 
Polk  concentrated  his  forces  at  Lee  &  Gordon's 
Mills.  Meanwhile  the  enemy's  left,  under  General 
Crittenden,  swung  around  in  the  direction  of  Chatta- 


164  THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1863. 

nooga,  with  General  Thomas's  Corps  moving  toward 
La  Fayette,  and  by  the  9th  they  had  crossed  Lookout 
Mountain  into  McLemore's  Cove.     Appreciating  at 
once  the  error  of  the  Federals  in  allowing  Thomas's 
Corps  to  become  thus  separated  from  the  main  army, 
General  Bragg  ordered  General  Hindman  to  attack 
the  enemy,  and  General  Hill  to  co-operate;  but  tlie 
latter,  believing  it  to  be  impossible  to  get  his  com- 
mand through  the  gaps  in  the  mountains  on  account 
of  obstructions,  failed  to  unite  his  forces  with  those 
of  Hindman  on  the  morning  of  the  10th.     In  hot 
haste  General  Buckner  was  ordered  to  fill  the  com- 
mand which  had  been  given  to  General  Hill,  and  by 
evening  he  succeeded  in  joining  General  Hindman  at 
Davis's  Cross  Roads;  but  it  was  too  late.     The  Fed- 
erals, perceiving  their  almost  fatal  mistake,  by  a  se- 
ries of  rapid  marches  managed  to  restore  their  scat- 
tered divisions,  and  by  Saturday,  September  19,  they 
held  a  position  in  the  Chickamauga  Valley,  with  a 
creek  of  the  same  name  separating  them  from  the 
Confederates,  who  had  been  re-enforced  by  General 
Johnston  with    two   brigades   from  Mississippi   and 
five   brigades   from  General   Longstreet's  Corps  of 
Virginians.     The  enemy  opened  the  battle  by  hurl- 
ing  a  large  force   upon    General   Walker's   Corps, 
which  held  a  position  on  General  Buckner's  extreme 
right.     The   Confederates  repulsed  the   enemy  and 
drove  them  some  distance,  but  were  themselves  being 


1863.  CHICKAMAUGA.  l65 

forced  back,  when  they  were  re-enforced  by  General 
Cheatham's  Division,  which  had  been  held  in  re- 
serve. The  battle  became  general  along  the  whole 
line.  Generals  Stewart,  Cleburne,  and  Hood  had 
each  driven  the  enemy  before  him,  and  in  some 
cases  had  penetrated  far  into  their  lines.  With  this 
auspicious  beginning  the  Confederates  gathered  their 
energies  together  for  a  grand  victory  on  the  next  day. 
The  following  was  the  disposition  of  the  troops:  The 
right  wing,  under  General  Polk,  consisted  of  Gen- 
eral Hill's  Corps,  composed  of  Cleburne's,  Breck- 
inridge's, Cheatham's,  and  Walker's  Divisions;  the 
left  wing,  under  General  Longstreet,  consisted  of 
Generals  Johnston,  Preston,  and  Buckner's  Corps, 
General  Hindman's  Division,  Bennings's,  Lane's, 
Robertson's,  Kershaw's,  and  Humphries's  Brigades. 
At  ten  o'clock  Breckinridge  and  Cleburne  moved  for- 
ward against  the  rude  fortifications  which  the  Feder- 
als had  erected  during  the  night.  Magnificently  did 
they  make  the  attack,  and  they  were  on  the  point  of 
overwhelming  General  Thomas,  who  held  the  left, 
when  re-enforcements  arrived  in  time  to  save  him. 
All  along  the  line  the  battle  raged  with  terrible  fury, 
the  enemy  gradually  giving  way  before  the  enthusi- 
astic Confederates.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  latter 
in  one  solid  column  swept  forward  against  the  enemy. 
With  a  cheer  which  seemed  to  shake  the  mountains, 
inspired  by  the  memories  of  their  forced  retreat  from 


166  THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1863. 

Murfreesboro  "before  this  same  army  wbicli  now  con- 
•  fronted  them,  they  began  their  victorious  advance. 
Like  a  storm-cloud  ready  to  let  loose  its  torrents,  the 
Federals  saw  these  gray  masses  rushing  toward  them. 
Men  of  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  Ala- 
bama, and  Tennessee  stood  side  by  side  in  an  un- 
broken, unfaltering  line,  and,  like  a  swollen  torrent 
of  the  mountains  upon  which  they  fought,  they  liter- 
ally hurled  the  enemy  before  them,  and  sent  them  in 
rout  and  confusion  toward  Missionary  Ridge.  Never 
was  a  victory  more  complete.  That  bright  Septem- 
ber moon  looked  down  upon  the  shattered  wreck  of 
Rosecrans's  thoroughly  beaten  army  and  the  Confed- 
erates tenting  upon  the  well-won  field,  full  of  the  en- 
thusiasm that  comes  from  a  contest  nobly  fought  and 
gained.  It  is  said  that  "General  Forrest  had  climbed 
a  tree,  and  from  his  lofty  perch  watched  the  retreat- 
ing enemy.  He  saw  the  blue  uniforms  swarming 
over  the  fields,  and  the  disorganized  masses  of  the 
enemy  choked  with  flight  and  struggling  with  mortal 
panic  as  sounds  of  feeble  pursuit  followed,  on  their 
heels.  He  shouted  to  a  staff  officer:  'Tell  General 
Bragg  to  advance  the  whole  army;  the  enemy  is 
ours.'"  The  Federals  left  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
quering Confederates  "eight  thousand  prisoners,  fif- 
ty-one pieces  of  artillery,  fifteen  thousand  stands  of 
small-arms,  and  quantities  of  ammunition,  with  wag- 
ons, Ambulances,  teams,  medicines,  hospital   stores, 


1863.  MARTIAL  LAW  IN  KENTUCKY.  167 

etc.,  in  large  quantities."  Among  the  dead  on  the 
Confederate  side  were  Generals  Helm,  Preston 
Smith,  and  James  Deshler,  and  the  gallant  Hood 
was  so  severely  wounded  as  to  make  the  amputation 
of  his  thigh  necessary. 

On  the  23d  of  September  General  Bragg  moved 
his  army  from  Chattanooga,  crossing  over  Missionary 
B/idge,  where  he  rested  several  weeks,  leaving  the 
enemy  in  possession  of  Chattanooga,  where  they  re- 
organized their  army  and  fortified  themselves. 

Martial  Law  in  Kentucky. 

The  State  of  Kentucky  at  all  times  seemed  to  have 
more  than  her  share  of  the  evils  and  misfortunes  in- 
cident to  the  war.  Her  people,  being  equally  divid- 
ed between  Southern  and  Northern  sympathies,  were 
kept  in  a  continued  state  of  disturbance.  Failing  to 
oppress  the  Southern  sympathizers,  such  influence 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  Governor  McGoffin  that  in 
August,  1862,  he  resigned  his  position.  When  the 
elections  came  round  for  the  following  year  General 
Burnside  had  taken  matters  into  his  own  hands,  and 
declared  the  State  under  martial  law.  The  following 
are  some  examples  of  the  orders  which  he  issued: 

1.  By  way  of  precaution  the  people  are  informed  that  wlien- 
ever  any  property  is  needed  for  the  use  of  the  United  States 
army  it  will  be  taken  from  rebel  sympathizers,  and  receipts  giv- 
en for  the  same  marked  "disloyal,"  and  to  be  paid  for  at  the 
end  of  the  war  on  proof  that  the  holder  is  a  loyal  man. 


168  THE   CIVIL  WAB.  1863. 

2.  Rebel  sympathizers  are  defined  to  be  not  only  tliose  who 
are  in  fiivor  of  secession,  but  also  those  who  are  not  in  favor  of 
a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  of  furnishing  men  and 
money  unconditionally  for  that  purpose.  "Loyalty"  is  to  be 
proved  by  the  vote  given  at  the  election. 

3.  County  judges  are  required  to  appoint  none  but  "loyal" 
men  as  judges  of  election,  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  our 
laws  which  require  officers  of  election  to  be  taken  equally  from 
each  political  party. 

4.  Persons  offering  to  vote,  whose  votes  may  be  rejected  by 
the  judges,  are  notified  that  they  will  be  immediately  arrested 
by  the  military. 

5.  Judges  of  election  are  notified  that  they  will  be  arrested 
and  held  responsible  by  the  military  should  they  permit  any 
disloyal  man  to  vote. 

These  orders  are  here  quoted  at  greater  length  and 
are  given  more  attention  perhaps  than  they  deserve, 
but  they  serve  to  show  the  line  of  procedure  to  which 
the  Federal  Government  had  at  this  time  committed 
itself  in  the  management  of  any  free  and  sovereign 
State  over  which  it  might  gain  the  power.  They 
show  that  the  life,  liberty,  freedom,  and  the  pos;pes- 
sion  of  one's  goods  and  property  were  put  in  strange 
jeopardy,  even  for  war  times.  Therefore,  with  such 
pressure  as  this  brought  to  bear  upon  the  citizens  of 
Kentucky,  the  candidate  .who  was  elected  ( Mr.  Bram- 
lette)  was  virtually  an  appointee  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment forced  ihto  the  executive  office  by  the  strong 
arm  of  the  military.  With  such  a  fate  as  this  which 
befell    the   noble    State  of   the  "dark   and   bloody 


1863.  MARTIAL  LAW  IN  KENTUCKY.  169 

ground"  staring  them  in  the  face,  one  ceases  to  won- 
der at  that  almost  superhuman  endurance  with  which 
the  South  so  repeatedly  hurled  back  from  her  bor- 
ders the  vast  and  inexhaustible  numbers  which  the 
enemy  were  sending  against  her  in  one  constant 
stream;  and  that  she  only  ended  her  efforts  when 
completely  worn  out,  like  the  best-tempered  steel, 
which 'from  long  usage  and  the  continued  action  of 
the  elements  finally  loses  its  strength  and  breaks. 

But  not  only  did  the  Confederacy  have  to  contend 
with  the  North  itself,  but  also  indirectly  with  the 
powers  of  Europe;  for  they,  especially  England, 
made  invidious  distinctions  between  the  two  Gov- 
ernments. In  fact,  while  allowing  the  Federals  to 
recruit  their  armies  from  her  dominions  and  to  get 
ammunition  and  supplies,  the  British  Government 
seized  upon  two  ships  which  were  in  course  of  con- 
struction at  Birkenhead  for  the  Confederacy.  Thus 
it  can  be  seen  how  much  the  more  is  that  struggle 
remarkable  which  the  South,  unaided  and  alone, 
maintained  against  one  of  the  strongest  powers  of 
modern  times  that  marshalled  its  forces  at  her  very 
doors. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Rappahannock— Missionary  Ridge. 

AT  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  before  again  tak- 
ing up  the  thread  of  active  military  operations 
on  the  land,  a  brief  account  of  the  navy  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  which  has  heretofore  been  playing 
such  an  important  part,  would  not  be  out  of  place. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  South  was  not  only 
virtually  without  a  fleet,  but  also  the  means  of  con- 
structing one.  But  at  once  recognizing  the  impor- 
tance of  ships  for  coast  and  river  defenses,  she  had 
directed  her  energies  in  this  direction,  and  now  had 
succeeded  in  floating  about  seventy-two  vessels,  with 
twenty-nine  in  process  of  construction.  This  enumer- 
ation includes  ships  of  every  description.  With  this 
navy,  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  Confederacy 
had  succeeded  in  capturing  over  one  hundred  and 
fifty  Federal  ships,  whicb,  with  their  cargoes,  will 
aggregate  a  total  damage  of  many  millions  of  dollars. 

Skirmishes  on  the  Rappahannock. 

Retreating  from  Pennsylvania,   General  Lee  had 
taken  a  position  on  the  Rapidan,  from  which  place 

he  moved  on  the  9th  of  October  with  the  purpose  of 

(170) 


1863.  RAPPAHANNOCK— MISSIONAEY  EIDGE.  171 

engaging  the  enemy  who  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Cul- 
pepper Court-house,  and  on  tlie  10th  his  right,  under 
General  Stuart,  met  the  advance  line  of  the  enemy  at 
James  City  and  drove  them  back  in  the  direction  of 
their  main  body  at  Culpepper  Court-house.  On  reach- 
ing the  latter  place  on  the  11th,  General  Lee  found 
that  the  enemy  had  withdrawn  toward  the  Kappahan- 
nock.  However,  General  Stuart  did  not  relax  his 
pursuit,  and  continued  to  harass  their  rear.  Gen- 
eral Fitzhugh  Lee,  who  had  been  left  to  guard  the 
Rapidan,  met  a  detachment  of  the  enemy  who  had 
crossed  the  river,  and  drove  them  as  far  as  Brandy 
Station,  where,  on  the  evening  of  the  11th,  he  was 
joined  by  General  Stuart.  With  their  united  com- 
mands they  pushed  the  cavalry  of  the  Federals  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Rappahannock.  Continuing  his 
march  with  the  main  army,  General  Lee  reached  the 
Rappahannock  at  Warrenton  Springs  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  12th.  Here  the  enemy  made  a  spasmodic 
resistance,  but  were  soon  put  to  flight  by  the  Confed- 
erate cavalry.  This  pursuit  was  kept  up  for  three  or 
four  days,  and  was  marked  by  frequent  and  severe 
skirmishes,  especially  at  Bristoe's  Station,  where  Gen- 
eral Hill,  with  two  brigades,  was  repulsed  by  a  supe- 
rior force  of  the  enemy  behind  a  railroad  embank- 
ment. Besides  a  considerable  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded.  General  Hill  left  in  the  hands  of  the  ene- 
my quite  a  number  of  prisoners.     Finding  that  he 


172  THE   CIVIL  WAK. 


1863. 


had  failed  in  his  purpose  to  flank  General  Meade, 
and  that  the  latter  was  so  near  the  intrenchments  at 
Washington  that  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to 
get  between  him  and  them,  General  Lee,  on  the  18th, 
again  withdrew  his  army  to  the  Kappahannock. 

When  the  army  first  set  upon  the  movements  just 
related  General  Imboden  had  been  sent  down  the 
valley  to  protect  General  Lee's  left  against  any  prob- 
able attacks  of  the  enemy  from  that  direction.  With 
a  brilliancy  and  dispatch  he  carried  out  these  plans, 
and  while  the  main  body  of  the  army  was  on  the  re- 
treat on  the  18th,  he  surrounded  the  town  of  Charles- 
town,  where  a  force  of  the  enemy  were  fortified  in  the 
court-house  and  jail.  To  General  Imboden's  sum- 
mons to  surrender.  Colonel  Simpson,  the  Federal 
commander,  replied:  "Take  me  if  you  can."  A  few 
shells,  however,  from  the  Confederate  batteries, 
showed  the  utter  vanity  of  this  boastful  response  by 
forcing  the  enemy  from  these  positions.  The  latter 
fled  in  the  direction  of  Harper's  Feriy,  but  were 
checked  by  the  Eighteenth  Cavalry  and  a  detach- 
ment of  infantry.  After  a  short  conflict,  the  Feder- 
als surrendered  themselves  to  the  number  of  over 
four  hundred.  Re-enforcements  from  Harper's  Fer- 
ry now  came  to  their  support,  but  too  late  to  be  of 
service.  The  gallant  Imboden  retired  before  their 
largely  superior  numbers,  but  kept  possession  of  his 
spoils  and  prisoners. 


18G3.  RAPPAHANNOCK— MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  173 

General  Lee's  army  now  lield  a  position  "  on  both 
sides  of  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  railroad,  General 
Ewell's  Corps  on  the  right  and  General  Hill's  on  the 
left,  with  cavalry  on  each  flank."  Above  the  rail- 
road bridge  the  Confederate  general  had  fortified 
two  hills  on  each  side  of  the  Rappahannock  in  order 
to  prevent  any  flank  movement  on  the  part  of  the 
Federals.  In  the  meantime  the  latter  continued  to 
rebuild  the  railroad  which  the  Confederates  had  de- 
stroyed, and  by  the  6th  it  was  discovered  that  they 
were  approaching  the  river  with  the  intention  of  fight- 
ing their  way  across.  They  fell  upon  General  Rodes 
with  the  Second  and  Thirtieth  North  Carolina  Regi- 
ments, stationed  at  Kelley's  Ford,  and  drove  the  latter 
regiment  to  some  buildings  near  the  river,  where  they 
captured  them.  The  enemy  were  also  directing  their 
attention  to  the  Confederate  rifle-pits  at  the  bridge 
on  the  north  bank,  which  was  occupied  by  Colonel 
Godwin  with  one  brigade,  and  General  Hayes,  also 
with  one  brigade.  Anticipating  an  attack,  the  artil- 
lery was  moved  to  the  front,  and  General  A.  P.  Hill's 
Corps,  with  Anderson's  and  Early's  Divisions,  were 
kept  on  the  alert.  The  enemy,  however,  had  planned 
a  surprise,  and  under  the  cover  of  darkness  they 
hurled  their  overwhelming  numbers  against  the  troops 
stationed  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river.  In  a  triple 
line  they  made  their  attack.  Their  first  column  melted 
away  before  the  destructive  fire  of  the  Confederates, 


174  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G3. 

but  had.  every  bullet  that  sped  from  that  little  band 
defending  the  pits  found  a  lodgment  in  a  human 
breast,  they  could  not  even  then  have  maintained 
themselves  against  such  a  force  of  numbers,  that  by 
their  very  weight  pushed  them  from  their  position 
and  surrounded  them  on  all  sides.  Eight  gallantly, 
however,  did  they  fight,  with  a  courage  that  comes  o£ 
desperation.  Many  were  captured  and  a  few  cut  their 
way  through  the  almost  solid  lines  which  surrounded 
them,  swam  the  river,  and  made  their  escape.  This 
reverse  caused  General  Lee  to  withdraw  his  forces  to 
the  south  side  of  the  Rapidan,  where,  on  the  27th  of 
November,  that  portion  of  his  army  drawn  up  at  Ger- 
mania  Ford  was  attacked  by  a  large  force  of  the  en- 
emy under  General  French.  In  this  contest  the  Fed- 
erals again  attempted  a  surprise;  but  they  did  not 
meet  with  that  success  which  had  crowned  their  ef- 
forts in  the  former  attack  on  the  Rappahannock,  for 
they  were  driven  back  with  great  loss — perhaps 
double  that  of  the  Confederates,  which  was  four 
hundred  and  fifty  in  killed  and  wounded.  This  re- 
pulse seemed  to  put  an  end  to  General  Meade's  de- 
signs of  engaging  General  Lee  in  a  decisive  battle. 

Missionary  Ridge. 

The  defeat  at  Chickaraanga  cost  General  Rosecrans 
his  command,  for  on  the  18tli  of  October  he  was  su- 
perseded by  General  U.  S.  Grant,  who  at  once  pro- 


1863.  RAPPAHANNOCK— MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  175 

ceeded  to  Chattanooga,  where  the  Federal  forces  were 
practically  invested  by  General  Bragg.  Moreover, 
the  Confederate  cavalry  were  keeping  the  enemy  in  a 
continued  state  of  alarm  by  their  continuous  and  con- 
stant raids — especially  that  one  of  General  Wheeler 
in  the  direction  of  McMinnville  and  Shelbyville,  in 
which  he  captured  a  large  number  of  prisoners,  de- 
stroyed many  bridges,  and  took  much  stores  and  sup- 
plies which  the  enemy  could  ill  spare  at  this  time. 

On  reaching  Chattanooga  General  Grant  immedi- 
ately put  new  life  into  the  dispirited  Federals,  and 
on  the  28th  of  October  he  sent  General  Hooker  into 
the  Lookout  Valley  with  the  Eleventh  Corps  and  one 
division  of  the  Twelfth  Corps;  and  he  also  succeeded 
in  getting  possession  of  the  range  of  hills  at  the  en- 
trance to  this  valley.  The  Confederates,  however,  did 
not  permit  these  movements  to  proceed  entirely  in 
peace,  for  on  the  night  of  the  29th  six  regiments  of 
troops  fell  upon  the  enemy,  but  after  a  gallant  attack 
they  were  forced  to  retire  on  finding  that  they  were 
engaged  with  the  entire  Twelfth  Corps,  under  Gen- 
eral Slocum.  In  the  early  part  of  November  General 
Bragg  sent  General  Longstreet  with  his  forces  to  at- 
tack General  Burnside  at  Knoxville.  Immediately 
upon  hearing  of  this  movement  General  Grant  de- 
termined to  attack  the  Confederates  at  once  in  their 
weakened  condition.  General  Bragg  had  taken  up  a 
position  on  the  top  of  Missionary  Bidge,  which  was 


176  THE  CIVIL  WAB.  1863. 

between  four  and  six  Imndred  feet  in  height,  and  had 
posted  his  troops  "along  the  crest  of  the  ridge  from 
McFavland's  Gap  ahnost  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chicka- 
mauga,  a  distance  of  six  miles  or  more."  Ke-enforced 
by  General  Sherman,  the  Federals  consumed  the  23d 
and  24th  of  November  in  getting  their  forces  in  posi- 
tion for  a  general  attack,  and  on  the  25th,  with  a 
magnificent  army  of  eighty-five  thousand  men,  they 
moved  against  the  Confederates,  who  numbered  less 
than  one-half  that  amount.  At  ten  o'clock  the  enemy 
hurled  their  heavy  double  columns,  supported  by 
large  reserves,  against  the  left  under  General  Har- 
dee, which  consisted  of  Generals  Cleburne's,  Walk- 
er's (commanded  by  General  Gist),  Cheatham's,  and 
Stevenson's  Divisions.  As  became  the  veterans  of 
Shiloh  and  Chickamauga,  did  these  tried  divisions 
maintain  themselves  against  two  successive  assaults 
of  the  enemy,  gallantly  holding  their  position.  But 
the  left,  commanded  by  General  Breckinridge,  did 
not  fare  so  well  when  the  Federals  fell  upon  them 
about  twelve  o'clock.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  the  lat- 
ter were  going  to  be  served  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  brave  Hardee  had  served  them  on  the  right;  but 
somehow  a  brigade  in  the  center  gave  way,  allowing 
the  enemy  to  get  a  foot-hold  upon  the  crest  of  the 
ridge  and  to  turn  their  fire  upon  our  flanks.  Soon 
the  whole  left  broke  and  retreated,  and  the  day  was 
lost  and  the  victory  at  Chickamauga  rendered  fruit- 


18G3.  RAPPAHANNOCK— MISSIONARY  RIDGE.  177 

less  save  as  an  exhibition  of  grand  courage.  Though 
General  Hardee  had  been  decisively  victorious  in  his 
encounter  with  the  Federals,  the  complete  disaster  on 
the  left  made  his  success  vain  and  fruitless,  so  the 
night  of  the  25th  found  General  Bragg  in  retreat  in 
the  direction  of  Dalton,  Ga.,  with  Cleburne  and  his 
division  guarding  the  rear.  The  latter's  remarkably 
skillful,  brave,  and  successful  performance  of  this 
duty  casts  a  brilliancy  over  an  otherwise  gloomy  and 
disastrous  movement.  To  make  their  victory  more 
complete,  the  enemy  had  sent  a  picked  division  of 
ten  thousand  men  in  pursuit,  which  the  Confederates 
managed  to  repulse  at  every  point,  and  especially  at 
Taylor's  Ridge  did  General  Thomas's  advance  come 
to  grief.  Here  General  Cleburne  concealed  his  ar- 
tillery and  planted  his  infantry  on  both  sides  of  the 
road  and  when  the  enemy  came  very  close  upon  them, 
with  both  heavy  guns  and  muskets  the  Confederates 
turned  loose  such  a  fire  that  it  fairly  cut  them  to 
pieces  and  caused  them  to  break  and  flee  in  confu- 
sion, leaving  scattered  upon  the  bloody  road  one 
thousand  five  hundred  killed  and  wounded  as  an  ev- 
idence that  they  had  entered  literally  into  the  very 
jaws  of  death.  Moreover,  the  brave  Cleburne  had  in 
his  possession  two  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners  and 
three  battle-flags  belonging  to  the  enemy;  and  the 
latter  showed  their  appreciation  of  this  sanguinary 

lesson  by  ceasing  at  once  from  any  further  pursuit. 
.     12 


178  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

General  Longstreet  bad  been  sent  against  Knox- 
ville  with  hardly  eleven  thousand  men,  and  with  but 
an  insufficient  amount  of  supplies  and  means  of  trans- 
portation for  even  these.  However,  this  did  not  daunt 
the  hero  of  so  many  Virginia  battles;  but,  by  taking 
large  amounts  of  booty  at  Lenoir  and  Bean's  Stations 
and  in  the  Clinch  Valley,  he  succeeded  in  forcing 
the  enemy  to  assist  him  in  the  maintenance  of  his 
army.  By  the  18th  of  November  he  had  driven  the 
advance  line  of  the  Federals  into  the  shelter  of  their 
works,  and  thus  had  Knoxville  completely  invested, 
with  every  probability  of  an  early  surrender,  when 
the  news  of  the  fatal  field  of  Missionary  Ridge  made 
it  either  necessary  for  him  to  make  an  immediate  as- 
sault or  to  retreat.  The  former  course  was  decided 
upon;  and  accordingly,  at  the  break  of  day  on  the 
morning  of  the  29th  of  November,  three  brigades  of 
McLaw's  Division  moved  against  that  part  of  the 
Federal  works  known  as  Fort  Sanders.  Over  a 
ground  obstructed  with  stumps  and  wires  ingenious- 
ly prepared  by  the  enemy  to  throw  the  assaulting 
column  into  confusion,  the  gallant  fellows  moved  in 
the  midst  of  a  hail-storm  of  death,  which  put  in 
mourning  many  a  home  in  Mississippi,  Georgia,  and 
South  Carolina,  from  which  the  men  who  made  up 
this  division  were  drawn.  However,  with  their  com- 
rades falling  around  them  like  the  leaves  of  the  for- 
est when  swept  by  an  autumn  gale,  they  pressed  upon 


1863.  EAPPAHANNOCK— MISSIONARY  EIDGE.  179 

the  fortifications  and  planted  their  own  banner  side 
by  side  with  the  flag  of  the  enemy.  But  unavailing 
was  this  superb  and  unsurpassed  courage,  and,  leav- 
ing their  dead  a«id  wounded  to  the  number  of  one 
thousand,  they  fell  back.  Upon  this  failure  General 
Longstreet  took  up  his  line  of  march  in  the  direction 
of  Rogers ville,  with  the  enemy  following  as  far  as 
Bean's  Station,  where  the  Confederates  halted  long 
enough  to  repulse  them,  driving  them  back  a  dis- 
tance of  twelve  miles,  and  reminding  them  that 
the  veterans  of  Fredericksburg  and  Manassas  were 
still  in  a  condition  to  punish  them  with  a  severe  de- 
feat. General  Longstreet  then  proceeded  to  overrun 
all  the  extreme  North-east  of  the  State,  maintaining 
his  army  upon  the  spoils  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Minor  Operations  in  the  West. 

THOUGH  the  operations  in  the  extreme  South- 
west were  upon  a  small  scale,  when  compared 
with  the  scenes  that  were  being  enacted  upon  the 
great  theaters  of  war  in  the  East,  yet  the  record  of 
how  the  Southern  soldier  fought — the  story  of  his 
noble  struggle  for  four  long  years  against  an  enemy 
so  many  times  his  superior  in  point  of  numbers — 
would  be  strangely  lacking  should  one  omit  to  weave 
into  the  chronicle  of  events  how,  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  little  garrison  at  Sabine  Pass,  between 
Louisiana  and  Texas,  won  their  victory.  This  fort, 
though  only  mounting  three  guns,  was  attacked  by  a 
fleet  of  five  gun-boats.  However,  they  directed  their 
fire  so  well  that  in  a  short  time  they  had  disabled  one. 
of  the  gun-boats  and  forced  two  others  to  surrender. 
Thus,  with  not  the  loss  of  a  single  man,  they  had 
gained  a  victory  the  fruits  of  which  were,  besides  the 
two  boats,  two  hundred  men  and  fifteen  cannons. 

Many  volumes  might  be  written  of  those  gallant 
but  irregular  bands  that  swept  up  and  down  this 
whole  Western  country,  too  few  in  number  to  risk  a 

general  and  open  encounter  with  the  enemy.     About 
(180) 


1863.  MINOK  OPEliATIONS  IN  THE  WEST.  181 

all  of  their  actions,  their  manner  of  life,  their  hair- 
breadth escapes,  their  heroic  refusal  to  bow  to  the 
iron  heel  of  oppression,  preferring  the  long  ride,  the 
midnight  surprise,  choosing  to  be  houseless  and 
homeless,  wanderers  and  outcasts  from  the  lands 
they  loved,  hunted  like  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  as 
mercilessly  slain  when  found,  there  is  the  atmosphere 
of  romantic  fiction  Tather  than  the  sober,  uncolored 
record  of  history.  Therefore  one  will  have  to  content 
himself  only  with  this  passing  tribute  to  their  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  they  loved,  with  relating  only  one 
characteristic  incident  which  took  place  near  Fort 
Smith,  Ark.  While  Quantrell  and  his  band  of  "guer- 
rillas "  were  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort,  General 
Blount,  accompanied  by  two  hundred  cavalrymen, 
rode  out  to  meet  them,  thinking  that  they  were  Fed- 
eral soldiers.  Too  late  did  they  discover  their  fatal 
mistake.  With  the  fierce  swoop  of  an  eagle  these 
defenders  of  individual  rights  and  the  independence 
of  the  separate  States  in  the  far  West  were  upon 
them,  and  soon  had  almost  swept  the  entire  command 

from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

f 

YlKGINIA  AND  TENNESSEE  BoRDER. 

Near  the  dividing  line  between  East  Tennessee  and 
Virginia  the  Confederate  forces  of  General  Jones  and 
the  Federals  under  General  Averill  were  battling  for 
supremacy  in  that  region.     On  the  26th  of  August 


182  THE  CIVIL  WAK. 


1863. 


these  two  commands  met  near  Dublin,  and  the  first 
day's  fight  ended  without  either  gaining  any  decisive 
advantage.  However,  the  enemy  renewed  the  contest 
on  the  next  day,  but  after  two  unsuccessful  attacks 
they  were  forced  to  retreat  toward  Warm  Springs, 
with  the  Confederates  following.  The  latter  lost  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded, 
but  took  one  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners  and  one 
piece  of  artillery.  On  the  6th  of  the  following  month 
the  Confederates  gained  a  still  more  decisive  victory 
by  surprising  the  Federals  near  Rogersville,  and 
taking — besides  wagons,  artillery,  and  cattle — eight 
hundred  and  fifty  prisoners.  While  General  Eansoni 
was  performing  this  brilliant  achievement  the  enemy, 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  strong,  were  sur- 
rounding Colonel  W.  L.  Jackson  at  Droop  Mountain, 
who  had  under  his  command  only  fifteen  hundred 
men.  But  even  with  this  small  number  he  kept  the 
enemy  at  bay  for  seven  hours,  marked  by  a  stubborn 
and  heroic  resistance,  when  he  was  forced  to  retreat 
in  the  direction  of  Lewisburg,  which  retreat  he  suc- 
cessfully accomplished  without  the  loss  of  either  his 
stores  or  artillery.  The  Federal  general  then  made 
a  rapid  raid  into  Virginia,  destroying  many  supplies, 
especially  at  Salem.  On  his  return,  however,  he  was 
met  near  Covington  by  Colonel  Jackson,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  two  hundred  of  his  command, 
though  General  Averill  himself  managed  to  escape. 


1863.  minok  operations  in  the  west.  183 

Lincoln's  "Peace  Pkoclamation." 

About  this  time  President  Lincoln  issued  what  is 
known  as  the  "  Peace  Proclamation,"  only  a  few  feat- 
ures of  which  need  to  be  given  to  show  how  very  in- 
sulting it  was  to  every  feeling  of  honor,  and  how 
thoroughly  humiliating  and  degrading  it  would  have 
been  had  the  South  accepted  it: 

Whereas  in  and  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  it  is 
provided  that  the  President  shall  have  power  to  give  reprieves 
and  i)ardons  for  oftenses  against  the  United  States,  except  in 
cases  of  impeachment;  and  whereas  a  rebellion  exists,  whereby 
the  loyal  State  Governments  of  several  States  have  for  a  long  time 
been  subverted,  and  many  persons  have  committed  and  are  now 
guilty  of  treason  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
etc. 

In  this  document  the  complete  independence  of  the 
slaves  was  further  guaranteed,  and  the  following  ex- 
ceptions from  its  provisions  were  made: 

All  who  are  or  shall  have  been  civil  or  diplomatic  officers  or 
agents  of  the  so-called  Confederate  Government ;  all  who  have 
left  judicial  stations  under  the  United  States  to  aid  in  the  re- 
bellion ;  all  who  are  or  shall  have  been  naval  or  military  officers* 
of  the  said  so-called  Confederate  Government  above  the  rank  of 
colonel  in  the  army  or  of  lieutenant  in  the  navy ;  all  who  left 
seats  in  the  United  States  Congress  to  aid  in  the  rebellion,  etc. 

Such  were  the  general  characteristics  of  this  re- 
markable document.  One  need  not  read  far  to  see 
that  it  was  a  strange  "peace,"  a  peculiar  "peace" 
that  was  offered  to  the  "said  so-called  Confederate 


184  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1863. 

Government."  One  feels  that  the  generous  glow  of 
an  earnest,  magnanimous  desire  for  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities which  had  caused  the  crimson  tide  of  human 
life  to  flow  out  upon  many  a  bloody  field  was  so  far 
wanting  that  one  would  not  be  wrong  in  designating 
it  as  the  "  Proclamation  of  Humiliation*"  rather  than 
of  "  Peace,"  for  it  was  like  acid  to  the  bleeding  wound. 
It  meant  a  confession  of  treason,  of  offense  against 
civil  and  moral  law.  Its  acceptation  would  have  been 
at  the  time  like  one  taking  a  burning  brand  and 
stamping  upon  his  own  forehead  an  ineffaceable  ac- 
knowledgment of  a  crime  which  he  had  not  com- 
mitted. Moreover,  the  soldiers  who  had  followed 
the  glorious  fortunes  of  their  commanders  through 
the  varying  scenes  of  the  war  were  hardly  willing  to 
give  them  over  to  the  uncertain  fate  threatened  in  this 
proclamation.  Consequently  this  document,  couched 
more  in  the  language  of  flippant  boast  and  vain  tri- 
umph than  in  the  sober  and  dignified  terms  of  a  groat 
State  paper,  only  served  to  make  the  South  nerve 
herself  for  the  last  grand  heroic  struggles  which  only 
sheer  exhaustion  can  conquer.  ^ 

Under  such  circumstances  as  these,  and  upon  such 
terms,  the  South  never  for  a  moment  considered  the 
question  of  peace;  therefore,  with  the  heroic  purpose 
to  die  for  the  principles  they  had  espoused,  with  a 
steadfast  resolve  not  to  willingly  submit  to  a  settle- 
ment which  would  place  upon  them  chains  of  ever- 


1864.  MINOR  OPEEATIONS  IN  THE  WEST.  185 

lasting  disgrace,  the  people  resumed  the  third  year 
of  their  struggle  with  a  foe  which  was  so  numerous 
that  it  would  seem  that  the  Federal  armies  were  like 
the  mythical  warriors  in  the  Valley  of  the  Walhalla, 
who  fought  all  day,  slaying  and  being  slain;  but  who, 
being  restored  to  life  and  strength  during  the  night 
by  some  magical  power,  renewed  their  endless  battles 
tlie  next  morning. 

The  year  1864  was  opened  in  Virginia  with  Gen- 
eral Early's  proposed  attack  upon  the  Federals  for- 
tified at  Petersburg  in  the  latter  part  of  January. 
General  Rosser,  with  his  brigade,  was  sent  on  ahead 
of  the  main  body,  and  near  Petersburg  he  found  a 
wagon-train — ninety-six  in  number — loaded  with  a 
vast  quantity  of  important  stores  of  every  description 
and  guarded  by  a  force  of  one  thousand  two  hundred 
men,  who  had  taken  a  position  behind  a  rail  fence. 
The  prize  was  too  valuable  to  let  slip  without  a  strag- 
gle; so  the  Confederates  charged  the  enemy,  and  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  had  them  completely  routed 
and  were  in  possession  of  the  wagons  and  their  cov- 
eted and  needed  contents.  Thence  General  Rosser 
turned  toward  Petersburg,  with  the  intention  of  as- 
sisting General  Early  in  the  attack  which  they  had 
planned  upon  that  city.  But  the  Federals,  though 
well  fortified,  did  not  have  the  temerity  to  risk  an  en- 
counter with  the  Confederates,  and  therefore  they 
abandoned  the  city,  and,  aided  by  the  darkness,  es- 


186  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

caped.  This  expedition  of  General  Eosser  was  quite 
profitable,  in  that  he  captured,  besides  the  wagon- 
train,  nearly  three  hundred  prisoners  and  over  one 
thousand  five  hundred  cattle. 

Attack  upon  New  Berne,  N.  C. 

Immediately  following  these  exploits  of  the  Con- 
federates in  the  valley  was  General  Pickett's  expedi- 
tion against  the  Federals  at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  which 
resulted  hardly  less  brilliantly  than  the  former.  With 
only  two  brigades,  he  charged  the  enepiy's  outposts 
on  Bachelor's  Creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  New  Berne,  and 
with  an  impetuous  rush  he  pushed  the  Federals  be- 
fore him,  driving  them  to  the  shelter  of  their  fortifi- 
cations. During  the  night  a  small  detachment  sur- 
prised and  captured  one  of  the  finest  of  the  enemy's 
gun-boats  moored  in  the  Neuse  River.  After  a  brill- 
iant hand-to-hand  combat  they  forced  the  crew  to 
surrender,  but  were  unable  to  hold  the  vessel  on  ac- 
count of  the  fire  from  the  batteries  on  the  banks; 
therefore,  rather  than  allow  her  to  fall  back  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  they  gave  her  over  to  the  flames, 
and  she  was  soon  burned  to  the  water's  edge.  The 
result  of  this  enterprise  was  three  hundred  prison- 
ers with  their  arms,  two  fine  cannons,  and  quite  a 
goodly  quantity  of  provisions,  clothing,  camp  sup- 
plies, and  a  number  of  horses  and  cattle. 

This  series  of  small  victories  was  continued  in  an- 


1864.  MINOR  OPERATIONS  IN  THE  WEST,  187 

other  quarter  on  the  10th  and  11th  of  February.  The 
enemy  made  an  attack  on  the  Confederates  on  John's 
Island,  near  Charleston,  S.  C.  Being  somewhat  suc- 
cessful on  the  10th,  they  renewed  their  efforts  on  the 
following  day,  but  the  Confederates  having  been  re- 
enforced,  they  were  beaten  back  in  confusion. 

Battle  op  Ocean  Pond. 

The  month  of  February  was  rendered  still  more 
conspicuous  by  a  victory  farther  south  in  the  pine 
woods  of  Florida,  and  near  the  clear  waters  of  one  of 
her  picturesque  lakes.  General  Finnegan,  the  Con- 
federate commander,  had  with  him  a  force  much  too 
small  to  cope  with  the  Federals,  fully  eight  thousand 
in  number,  who  had  come  under  General  Seymour 
from  Charleston  harbor;  therefore  the  former  was 
forced  to  retreat  before  the  enemy  until  he  was  re- 
enforced  by  General  Colquitt,  with  his  brigade  and 
other  troops,  which  aggregated  his  command  to  fully 
five  thousand,  with  which  he  took  a  position  near 
Ocean  Pond  and  awaited  the  approach  of  the  enemy. 
They  did  not  have  to  wait  long,  for  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  20th  the  latter  made  their  expected  attack, 
which  was  but  a  repetition  of  the  results  which  usu- 
ally followed  whenever  the  forces  of  the  two  armies 
were  approximately  equal.  Th6  Federals  sustained 
themselves  for  a  time,  but  when  the  Confederates 
made  that  furious  onslaught  so  peculiar  to  them  in 


188  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

all  their  battles  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Bio  Grande, 
the  Federals  fled  in  rout  and  confusion  in  the 
direction  of  Jacksonville;  nor  did  they  make  a  halt 
until  they  had  put  twenty  miles  between  themselves 
and  the  battle-field  upon  which  they  left  over  three 
hundred  dead  and  wounded,  two  thousand  stands  of 
arms,  five  cannons,  and  five  hundred  prisoners.  The 
Confederates  suffered  to  the  extent  of  eighty  killed, 
and  between  six  and  seven  hundred  wounded. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Invasion  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama. 

GENERAL  GRANT  now  conceived  the  design  of 
carrying  the  war  more  thoroughly  into  the  inte- 
rior of  the  extreme  Southern  States,  thus  destroying 
the  great  source  of  Confederate  supplies.  This  plan 
was  put  into  active  operation  February  1,  1864,  by 
General  Sherman  marching  out  of  Vicksburg  with  a 
column  thirty-five  thousand  strong,  and  Generals 
Grierson  and  Smith  proceeding  through  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  at  the  head  of 
ten  thousand  cavalry  and  mounted  infantry.  The 
objective  point  of  both  of  these  expeditions  was  the 
city  of  Mobile,  which  place  was  at  the  same  time 
anticipating  an  attack  from  the  water  by  the  gun- 
boats of  the  enemy.  General  Polk  was  in  command 
of  the  Confederate  interests  in  this  quarter,  with  a  •^' 
force  not  at  all  adequate  to  contend  with  the  large 
numbers  of  the  enemy.  However,  sending  General 
Forrest  to  observe  the  course  of  Generals  Grierson 
and  Smith,  he  succeeded  in  holding  General  Sher- 
man in  check  long  enough  to  save  his  supplies  and 
to  evacuate  Meridian,  Miss.,  in  good  order,  and  to 
retreat  safely  to  Demopolis,  Ala. 

(189) 


190  THE   CIVIL   WAR.  1864. 

In  contending  with  the  other  column  Generial  For- 
rest added  new  laurels  to  his  fame  as  a  cavalry  lead- 
er. With  only  a  force  of  less  than  twenty-five  hun- 
dred men  it  was  imperatively  necessary  for  him  to 
crush  this  magnificently  equipped  cavalry  of  the  en- 
emy, nearly  thrice  his  own  in  numbers.  Near  West 
Point  this  undaunted  Tennesseean  made  a  stand,  and, 
having  posted  his  men  irregularly  in  the  bushes,  he 
awaited  the  rush  and  onslaught  of  the  enemy.  As 
the  Federals  rode  to  the  attack  the  Confederate  rifles 
began  to  crack,  and  with  these  whip-like  reports  the 
enemy  were  seen  to  fall  in  such  alarming  rapidity  as 
to  produce  confusion  and  to  check  their  advance. 
However,  they  reformed  and  charged  again,  but  the 
empty  saddles  still  continued  to  increase  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  spread  a  contagious  terror  among  them, 
and  they  gave  up  the  contest  and  fled. 

Again,  at  Okolona,  on  the  evening  of  February  21, 
the  Federals  made  a  disastrous  attempt  to  crush 
Forrest's  small  force.  In  this  conflict  the  rout  of  the 
enemy  was  even  more  complete  than  in  the  first,  and 
they  turned  and  fled  precipitately  in  the  direction  of 
Memphis,  with  General  Gholson  pursuing  with  only 
six  hundred  men. 

These  brilliant  successes  on  the  part  of  the  Confed- 
erates prevented  General  Sherman  from  reaping  any 
of  the  fruits  of  his  invasion  of  the  State.  Therefore 
he  was  forced  to  withdraw  to  Vicksburg  his  heavy 


1864.        INVASION  OF   BMSSISSIPPI  ANr>  ALABAMA.  191 

column,  with  which  he  had  expected  to  accomplish 
so  much,  with  very  barren  laurels  resting  upon  their 
banners.  General  Polk  issued  the  following  account 
of  the  results  of  the  campaign: 

The  concentration  of  our  cavalry  on  the  enemy's  column  of 
cavalry  from  West  Tennessee  formed  the  turning-point  of  the 
campaign.  That  concentration  broke  down  his  only  means  of 
subsisting  his  infantry.  His  column  was  defeated  and  routed, 
and  his  whole  force  compelled  to  make  a  hasty  retreat.  Never 
did  a  grand  campaign,  inaugurated  with  such  pretension,  termi- 
nate more  ingloriously.  "With  a  force  three  times  that  which 
was  opposed  to  its  advance,  they  have  been  defeated,  and  forced 
to  leave  the  field  with  a  loss  of  men,  small-arms,  and  artillery. 

On  the  25th  of  February  the  Federals  followed  this 
expedition  by  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  General 
Thomas  to  push  through  the  Confederate  lines  upon 
Atlanta.  But  this  movement  was  checked,  and  the 
enemy  were  forced  to  fall  back  to  Chickamauga. 

Legal  Enactments. 
Besides  this  auspicious  beginning  in  the  field,  the 
year  1864  was  characterized  by  the  enforcement  of  a 
few  important  acts  of  legislation:  first,  the  funding 
of  the  currency;  second,  the  stopping  of  further  is- 
sues of  paper  money;  third,  a  provision  for  greater 
revenues  by  an  increase  in  taxation;  and  fourth,  the 
sale  of  six  per  cent,  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $500,000,- 
000.  In  addition  to  these  financial  measures  the 
"Conscript  Law"  was  revised  and  more  rigorously 
enforced,  thus  putting  the  army  on  a  better  basis. 


192  the  civil  war.  18g4. 

Federal  Cavalry  Eaids. 
In  Virginia  operations  were  continued  by  a  plan  of 
the  enemy  with  a  picked  body  of  men  to  surprise  and 
take  the  city  of  Richmond.  To  consummate  this  de- 
sign, on  the  28th  of  February  there  were  three  expe- 
ditions, under  the  command  of  Generals  Kilpatrick 
and  Custer  and  Colonel  Ulric  Dahlgreen,  respective- 
ly, having  Richmond  for  their  objective  point.  Each 
in  turn  came  to  grief  after  having  signalized  them- 
selves by  certain  notorious  acts  of  rapine  and  pillage 
which  the  true  soldier,  fighting  under  any  civilized 
flag,  would  hardly  feel  himself  honored  in  doing. 
First,  General  Custer  collided  with  a  detachment 
of  Stuart's  Horse  Artillery,  under  Major  Beckham, 
near  Rio  Mills,  and  the  result  was  that  the  enemy 
were  sent  back  across  the  Rivanna  River.  General 
Kilpatrick,  however,  managed  to  get  within  sight  of 
the  spires  of  Richmond;  but  he  retreated  before 
getting  in  range  of  the  batteries  of  the  outer  fortifi- 
cations. The  fate  of  Dahlgreen  was  rather  worse 
than  the  other  two;  for,  on  his  way  to  Richmond,  he 
was  confronted  by  a  local  battery  and  a  force  of 
clerks  and  boys,  whose  first  fire  scattered  his  com- 
mand in  confusion,  with  a  loss  of  fifty  in  killed  and 
wounded.  He  continued  his  retreat,  harassed  at 
every  point  by  irregular  bands  of  Confederates,  until 
near  Walkerton,  where  he  was  attacked  by  Lieuten- 
ant Pollard  with  a  company  of  rangers,  together  with 


18&4.         INVASION  OF   MISSISSIPPI  AND  ALABAMA.  193 

a  few  cavalry  under  Captain  Cox.  At  the  first  fire 
Colonel  Dablgreeu  himself  was  slain,  and  his  band 
without  any  order  scattered  in  flight  through  the 
woods,  where  most  of  them  were  captured  by  the 
Confederates.  Papers  found  upon  the  body  of  the 
dead  Federal  commander  showed  how  well-laid  his 
plans  were,  and  how  very  atrocious  they  were  in  re- 
spect to  murder  and  destruction. 

Federal  Expeditions  from  New  Orleans  and 

ViCKSBURG. 

Transferring  the  scene  of  operations  to  the  South- 
west, we  find  the  Federals  engaged  in  the  preparation 
of  an  extensive  movement  in  that  quarter,  which  had 
for  its  purpose  the  complete  subjugation  of  the  coun- 
try west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Accordingly,  two 
large  forces — one  from  New  Orleans,  under  General 
Franklin;  the  other  from  Vicksburg,  under  General 
A.  J.  Smith — moved  westward  on  the  1st  and  lOtli  of 
March  respectively.  The  latter,  under  General  Smith, 
proceeded  up  Red  River,  and  on  the  14th  captured 
Fort  De  Russy,  with  nearly  three  hundred  prisoners. 
Thence  they  advanced  up  through  that  rich  cotton 
section,  destroying  and  confiscating  many  thousands 
of  dollars'  worth  of  this  valuable  commodity,  and  on 
the  16th  took  possession  of  Alexandria. 

All  three  divisions  of  the  Federal  forces  now  turned 

their  attention  to  Shrevepcrt  as  the  most  important 
13 


194  THE    CIVIL  WAR. 


1863. 


point  in  all  the  South-west  region,  and  were  endeav- 
oring to  form  a  junction  there.  However,  the  Con- 
federates, appreciating  the  value  of  this  position,  were 
determined  not  to  give  it  up  without  a  struggle.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  the  8th  of  April,  near  the  town  of 
Mansfield,  General  Banks  was  confronted  by  the 
Confederates  under  General  Kirby  Smith.  The  con- 
test raged  stubbornly  for  several  hours;  but  finally, 
outflanked  and  being  unable  to  sustain  themselves 
against  the  furious  attacks  of  the  Confederates,  the 
enemy  began  to  retreat,  which  soon  degenerated  into 
a  thorough  panic,  and  was  continued  until  re-en- 
forced by  General  Franklin,  who  had  meantime  ar- 
rived. This  battle  cost  the  Federals,  in  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing,  fifteen  hundred  men,  eighteen 
cannon,  and  wagon-trains  containing  large  quantities 
of  supplies.  On  tlie  following  day  General  Banks 
re-organized  his  forces,  and  having  been  further  re- 
enforced  by  the  arrival  of  General  A.  J.  Smith  with 
his  division,  he  awaited  the  on-coming  Confederates 
in  an  open  field  in  which  was  a  small  hill,  which  gave 
the  name  to  the  battle — Pleasant  Hill.  After  prelim- 
inary skirmishing  all  day,  the  real  engagement  was 
begun  by  a  magnificent  charge  of  the  Confederates 
in  a  triple  line.  After  pushing  the  enemy  back  for 
some  distance  and  capturing  one  battery.  General 
Kirby  Smith  withdrew  his  forces  to  their  original 
position,  and  awaited  further  developments  from  the 


1864.        INVASION  OF  MISSISSIPPI  AND  ALABAMA.  195 

Federals.  But  the  latter  had  suffered  too  much — 
perhaps  two  thousand  in  killed  and  wounded — to  try 
the  results  of  another  conflict,  and  therefore  retreat- 
ed to  Grand  Ecorfe  without  having  accomplished  the 
great  purpose  of  their  expedition.  Moreover,  the 
gallant  Kirby  Smith,  who  had  made  such  a  signal 
and  conspicuous  defense,  had  in  his  possession  as  the 
spoils  of  victory  over  one  thousand  wagons,  thirty- 
five  cannon,  and  six  thousand  prisoners.  His  oppo- 
nent. General  Banks,  occupied  himself  during  nearly 
all  of  the  month  of  May  in  getting  his  shattered  army 
back  behind  the  guns  of  New  Orleans,  thus  bringing 
to  a  disastrous  conclusion  an  expedition  that  had 
promised  so  much  in  the  beginning. 

General  Foerest  in  Kentucky. 

The  Confederates  seemed  determined  to  have  an 
unbroken  line  of  victories  in  the  West.  General 
Forrest,  with  his  band  of  tireless  riders,  swept  up 
through  Kentucky,  and  on  the  12th  of  April,  after  a 
refusal  of  the  commander,  Major  Booth,  to  surren- 
der, he  stormed  Fort  Pillow,  and  in  half  an  hour's 
time  had  slain  five  hundred  of  the  garrison  and  capt- 
ured the  remainder,  together  with  a  large  amount  of 
stores.  This  attack  upon  Fort  Pillow  the  Federals 
have  been  ever  willing  to  designate  as  a  "massacre." 
It  is  true  that  the  mortality  of  the  enemy  was  fear- 
ful, yet  when  one  considers  that  they  failed  to  take 


196  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G4. 

down  their  flag,  and  that  the  Confederates  found  op- 
posed to  them  as  a  part  of  the  garrison  a  large  num- 
ber of  negroes — their  former  slaves,  whom  they  had 
reared  and  cared  for,  and  who  now  turned  to  bite  the 
hand  that  fed  them — then  one  can  appreciate  the  de- 
termination acd  thorough  exasperation  with  which 
they  fought.  The  ever  restless,  enterprising  Forrest 
did  not  stop  here,  but  at  once  moved  against  Padu- 
cah,  which  place  he  reached  on  the  morning  of  the 
25th.  Driving  the  Federal  force,  over  two  thousand 
strong,  back  beyond  the  town,  he  took  possession, 
capturing  and  destroying  vast  quantities  of  stores  of 
every  description,  and  then  retiring. 

CONFEDEEATES  EeTAKE   PLYMOUTH,  N.  C. 

Across  the  mountains  in  the  "Old  North  State" 
the  Confederates  were  preparing  to  place  yet  another 
star  in  their  brilliant  constellation  of  victories.  The 
Federals  had  strongly  fortified  Plymouth,  situated  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Roanoke  Biver,  Against  this 
place  General  Hoke  organized  an  expedition,  which 
consisted  of  three  brigades,  commanded  by  General 
Ransom  and  Colonels  Mercer  and  Terry  respective- 
ly, one  regiment  of  cavalry,  under  Colonel  Dearing, 
and  seven  batteries  of  artillery,  commanded  by  Ma- 
jor Reid  and  Colonel  Branch.  After  a  forced  march 
of  seventy-five  miles,  on  the  17th  of  April  the  expe- 
dition arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town,  and  began 


1864.         INVASION  OF   MISSISSIPPI  AND  ALABAMA.  197 

operations  by  turning  their  artillery  upon  Warren 
Neck,  about  a  mile  above.  The  result  of  the  bom- 
bardment was  considerable  damage  to  the  fort  and 
the  destruction  of  one  of  the  gun-boats,  which  had 
come  to  its  help.  This  was  followed  by  an  attack 
upon  Fort  Wessell  the  next  day,  which  surrendered 
after  a  brave  resistance.  In  this  assault  the  noble 
and  gallant  Colonel  Mercer  lost  his  life.  At  two 
o'clock  the  next  morning  the  Confederate  iron-clad, 
"Albemarle,"  steamed  past  the  Federal  batteries, 
and  attacked  two  of  their  gun-boats.  One  of  these 
the  Confederate  vessel  sunk,  but  the  other  escaped, 
though  she  sustained  much  damage.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  28th  a  general  attack  with  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery  was  made.  "With  cheers  the 
Confederates  rushed  on  to  victory,  taking  battery 
after  battery  until  they  had  driven  the  enemy  from 
the  town  and  were  in  complete  possession  of  all  the 
forts,  together  with  sixteen  hundred  prisoners,  im- 
mense quantities  of  stores  and  supplies,  and  twenty- 
five  cannon.  Such  was  the  brilliant  and  successful 
ending  of  this  expedition  against  Plymouth. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

In  Virginia  Again. 

ATTENTION  is  now  once  more  tamed  to  the 
grand  old  "  Mother  State,"  upon  whose  bosom 
is  soon  to  take  place  the  final  struggles  which  are  to 
decide  the  fate  of  the  new  Government  which  has 
been  battling  so  nobly,  so  superbly  for  her  independ- 
ence. The  Federal  Government  had  transferred 
General  Grant  to  the  East  with  the  hope  and  expec- 
tation that  he  would  repeat  in  this  new  field  that 
characteristic  success  which  had  marked  his  career 
in  the  West,  and  had  put  under  him  as  magnificently 
equipped  an  army  as  had  ever  stepped  to  the  sound  of 
martial  music.  Each  side  somehow  had  a  premoni- 
tion that  this  was  to  be  the  final  and  decisive  cam- 
paign; that  there  was  going  to  be  a  mighty  struggle 
in  which  one  cause  or  the  other  was  going  to  die. 
The  victories  that  the  gray  lines  had  been  gaining  in 
the  South  made  the  Southern  heart  throb  with  a  new 
hope,  into  which  no  element  of  despair  or  doubt  en- 
tered; therefore  it  was  with  buoyant  and  confident 
step  that  the  veterans  of  Lee's  army  marched  out  to 
meet  the  two  huge  columns  which  General  Grant  set 

in  motion  on  the  4th  of  May.     On  the  following  day 
(198) 


1864.  IN'  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  199 

they  had  crossed  the  Rapidari  and  were  making  an 
attempt  to  turn  General  Lee's  right  flank,  which  con- 
sisted of  General  Edward  Johnson's  Division  hold- 
ing a  position  along  a  turnpike.  The  attack  of  the 
enemy  was  made  with  vigor,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed 
as  if  it  would  be  successful.  But  their  apparent  good 
fortune  was  only  temporary,  for  the  break  they  had 
made  in  the  Confederate  lines  was  soon  closed  up, 
while  at  the  same  time  Gordon's  Brigade  struck  them 
a  severe  blow  in  front  that  sent  tJiem  reeling  back  in 
confusion.  The  Federals  made  a  second  attack  upon 
another  part  of  General  Johnson's  line — the  left — 
but  were  warmly  received  by  Pegram's  and  Hayes's 
Brigades,  and  hurled  back  after  the  manner  of  their 
first  attack.  Not  satisfied  with  these  advances,  the 
enemy  made  a  still  more  determined  effort  against 
Heth's  and  Wilcox's  Divisions,  which  lasted  from 
three  o'clock  until  dark.  But  they  made  no  impres- 
sion upon  that  unbroken  line  of  gray,  and  it  was  con- 
fessed  from  their  own  stand-point  "  that  no  cheer  of 
victory  swelled  through  the  wilderness  that  night." 
The  next  day  was  consumed  in  assaults  by  Generals 
Hill  and  Longstreet  upon  Hancock's  Corps;  but 
though  the  line  of  the  enemy  was  broken  in  several 
places  by  the  effective  blows  of  these  two  tried  corps, 
yet  they  managed  in  the  main  to  hold  their  position. 
Toward  evening,  however,  the  Confederates  succeeded 
in  capturing  a  large  part  of  General  Seymour's  Bri- 


200  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1804. 

gade,  and  this  action  created  among  the  forces  of  the 
enemy  such  consternation  that  at  one  time  it  seemed 
that  their  whole  army  was  on  the  point  of  a  panic. 
On  the  following  day  (the  7th)  General  Grant  moved 
his  army  in  the  direction  of  Fredericksburg,  with  the 
intention,  it  seems,  of  taking  this  route  to  Bichmond. 
On  the  8th,  at  Spottsylvania  Court-house,  General 
Warren's  Corps  received  two  severe  repulses  at  the 
hands  of  General  Longstreet's  Corps,  which  was  now 
under  the  command  of  General  Anderson,  for  the 
former  had  been  wounded  in  the  battle  two  days  be- 
fore. This  ended  matters  until  Thursday,  the  12th, 
when  the  Federals  moved  against  the  Confederate 
fortifications,  and  before  the  latter  could  recover 
themselves  they  had  surrounded  and  captured  nearly 
all  of  Johnson's  Division.  It  was  a  critical  point. 
The  fate  of  the  Confederacy  almost  hung  in  the  bal- 
ance. The  Federals  seemed  now  to  be  on  the  point 
of  a  decisive  victory  that  would  throw  open  the  gates 
of  Richmond.  General  Lee  rode  forward  in  front  of 
the  lines  he  had  so  often  led  to  conquest  and  success. 
The  scene  wtis  dramatis  in  its  subdued  intensity. 
He  took  a  position  "  opposite  at  the  time  to  the  col- 
ors of  the  Forty-ninth  Eegiment  of  Pegram's  Bri- 
gade. Not  a  word  did  he  say.  He  simply  took  off  his 
hat  'as .he  sat  on  his  charger.'  An  eye-witness  says 
of  him:  *  I  never  saw  a  man  look  so  noble  or  witnessed 
a  spectacle  so  impressive.'     At  this  interesting  mo- 


(200j 


1864.  IN  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  201 

ment  General  Gordon,  spurring  his  foaming  charger 
to  the  front,  seized  the  reins  of  General  Lee's  horse, 
and  turning  him  around,  said:  'General,  these  are 
Virginians!  They  have  never  failed!  They  never 
will;  will  you,  boys?'  Amid  loud  cries  of  *No,  no! 
Ge'neral  Lee,  to  the  rear!'  'Go  back,  go  back!  Gen- 
eral Lee,  to  the  rear! '  General  Gordon  gave  the  com- 
mand, 'Forward,  charge!'"  With  this  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  battle  was  upon  them.  The  heroes  of 
Jackson  were  again  themselves,  and  grandly  did  they 
fight  through  all  that  terrible  day  in  a  manner  fully 
worthy  of  that  grim  warrior  under  whom  they  had 
swept  so  gloriously  up  the  valley.  The  shadows  of 
night  dropped  their  dark  curtain  on  a  theater  upon 
whose  stage  had  been  played  in  awful  reality  one  of 
the  fiercest  of  all  the  acts  in  the  dread  tragedy  of  this 
war.  Ewell,  Longstreet,  and  Hill  had  flung  column 
after  column  of  the  enemy  back,  each  time  piling  the 
ground  thick  with  dead  and  dying,  for  the  outflow  of 
the  crimson  tide  of  human  life  stained  between  eight- 
een and  twenty-five  thousand  blue  uniforms,  and  per- 
haps seven  thousand  of  the  gray.  But  the  enemy 
also  had  in  their  possession  the  three  thousand  pris- 
oners of  Johnson's  Division  and  the  twenty  pieces  of 
artillery  captured  at  the  same  time. 

While  General  Grant  was  thus  trying  to  break  Gen- 
eral Lee's  front.  General  Sheridan  was  sent  to  co- 
operate with  General  Butler,  who  was  to  move  against 


202  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G4. 

Eichmond  from  the  south.  On  his  route  to  Turkey 
Island  on  the  10th,  at  Mud  Tavern,  he  was  opposed 
by  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  with  his  cavalry.  In  this 
encounter  the  gallant  Stuart,  thfe  very  soul  of  Vir- 
ginia chivalry,  laid  down  his  life  for  the  country  for 
which  he  had  done  so  much  and  at  Avhose  hands  he 
deserves  a  high  rank  in  the  calendar  of  heroic  names 
in  remembrance  of  which  the  South  has  planted  an 
evergreen  of  immortality. 

On  the  5th  of  May  General  Butler  advanced,  with 
a  large  force  and  fleet  of  gun-boats,  ilp  the  James 
Biver,  and  landed  and  proceeded  to  intrench  himself 
around  Drury's  Bluff;  but  he  was  forced  to  abandon 
this  position  when  General  Beauregard  struck  him 
such  a  forcible  blow  on  the  right  as  to  crush  it,  in- 
flicting a  loss  upon  the  enemy  to  the  extent  of  several 
thousand  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners. 

There  was  still  another  feature  of  the  enemy's  ex- 
tensive operations  in  Virginia  by  which  they  hoped 
to  effect  a  speedy  destruction  of  the  Confederacy. 
General  Sigel,  with  twelve  thousand  troops,  was  sent 
up  the  Shenandoah  against  Staunton,  General  Crook 
with  six  thousand  against  Dublin,  and  General  Av- 
erill  with  two  thousand  five  hundred  cavalry  against 
Wytheville.  The  first,  under  General  Sigel,  felt  the 
might  of  General  Breckinridge's  army  at  Newmarket 
when  the  latter  punished  him  to  the  extent  of  a  large 
number  in  killed  and  wounded,  six  cannons,  and  nearly 


1864.  IN  VIKGINIA  AGAIN.  203 

one  thousand  stands  of  arms.  At  Dublin  General 
Crook  was  sent  back  in  full  retreat  by  General  Mc- 
Causland  with  only  a  force  of  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred. Besides  a  severe  loss  in  killed  and  wounded, 
the  enemy  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederates  nearly 
seven  hundred  prisoners.  General  AveriU's  attack 
upon  Wytheville  was  no  more  successful,  for  he  was 
repulsed  by  General  Morgan  with  a  heavy  loss.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  plans  of,  the  enemy  w^ere 
thoroughly  and  completely  baffled  at  every  point  and 
brought  to  naught. 

Cold  Harbor. 

On  the  18th  the  guns  were  again  thundering  along 
the  lines  holding  the  approaches  toward  Richmond, 
for  the  tenacity  of  the  Federal  commander  expressed 
itself  in  another  fruitless  assault  upon  General  Ew- 
ell's  position.  General  Grant  changed  his  position 
again  and  again,  but  each  time  the  ever-watchful  Lee 
threw  his  insuperable  wall  of  gray  between  him  and 
the  devoted  city.  The  former,  however,  kept  testing 
the  strength  of  this  wall  by  attacks  on  the  23d  and 
25th,  and  at  the  same  time  continued  to  swing  his  line 
around  until  by  the  28tli  he  had  his  army  across  the 
Pamunky  River,  and  by  the  1st  of  June  was  near  Cold 
Harbor,  with  the  object  for  which  they  had  struggled 
so  long  almost  in  sight.  But  the  fruition  of  their 
hopes  was  yet  to  be  deferred,  and  the  successful  con- 
summation of  their  plans,  which  seemed  now  at  hand, 


204  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

to  be  shattered  like  a  crystal  fabric  of  frail  glass  by 
the  blow  which  they  received  at  Cold  Harbor.  On 
the  morning  of  Friday,  June  3,  the  enemy  massed 
their  forces  against  the  Confederates  intrenched  along 
the  Chickahominy.  Assault  after  assault  was  made, 
and  each  time  the  enemy  were  hurled  back,  the  Con- 
federates retaining  every  position  and  giving  no  evi- 
dence of  weakness  at  any  point  of  their  line  save  in 
one  instance  on  the  left,  which  was  quickly  repaired. 
Thus  the  enemy  were  again  made  to  feel  the  effect- 
iveness of  those  blows  that  had  so  completely  held  at 
bay  each  successive  "  On  to  Eichmond "  expedition. 
The  enemy  paid  the  penalty  for  their  attack  upon  the 
Confederate  lines  with  ten  thousand  men. 

It  seemed  now  that  this  leader,  whom  the  North  had 
chosen  to  lead  them  to  a  decisive  victory,  was  to  fare 
at  the  hands  of  General  Lee  just  as  his  predecessors 
had  fared,  for  from  a  Federal  historian  his  loss  so  far 
in  this  campaign  was  sixty  thousand  men,  while  the 
same  authority  gives  the  Confederate  loss  at  a  little 
over  half  that  number. 

The  Western  Part  op  Virginia. 

The  Federals  were  not  satisfied  with  the  repulses 
which  they  had  met  in  the  western  part  of  Virginia. 
Accordingly  they  prepared  a  large  force  and  put  it 
under  command  of  General  Hunter.  To  oppose  this 
force  the  Confederates  could  only  bring  three  small 


1864.  IN  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  205 

divisions — neither  large  enough  to  be  called  an  army 
— commanded  respectively  by  Breckinridge,  McCaus- 
land,  and  William  E.  Jones.  By  the  5th  of  June  the 
enemy  had  accomplished  the  capture  of  Staunton,  in 
defense  of  which  the  brave  and  eccentric  General 
Jones  lost  his  life.  Several  days  later  General  Hun- 
ter united  to  his  own  command  those  of  Generals 
Cook  and  Averill,  and  moved  in  the  direction  of 
Lynchburg. 

Attack  upon  Petersbueg. 

General  Grant  now  determined  to  put  forth  a 
greater  effort  for  the  capture  of  the  city  of  Peters- 
burg, which  had  already  on  the  9th  of  June  repulsed 
an  attack  from  General  Butler.  Active  preparations 
were  begun  on  the  14th  by  General  Smith  with  his 
forces  assaulting  and  getting  possession  of  the  first 
line  of  Confederate  fortifications  on  the  north-east. 
This  was  followed  on  the  16th  by  an  attack  of  three 
corps  of  the  Federal  army  on  the  front,  which  were 
not  only  repulsed,  but  the  Confederates  themselves 
became  the  attacking  party  and  drove  the  enemy  be- 
fore them  and  captured  some  of  their  artillery,  to- 
gether with  a  large  portion  of  an  entire  regiment. 
The  next  day  the  enemy  repeated  these  tactics  with 
the  same  results,  but  on  the  18th  they  made  one 
more  effort  to  get  possession  of  the  city,  which,  a3 
Governor  Wise  said  in  the  beginning,  "  is  to  be  and 
shall  be  defended  on  her  outer  walls,  on  her  inner 


206  ■  THE   CIVIL  WAB.  1864. 

lines,  at  lier  corporation  bounds,  in  every  street  and 
around  every  temple  of  God  and  altar  of  man."  Three 
times  during  the  day  did  the  enemy  hurl  their  heavy 
columns  against  the  fortifications,  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose. The  Confederates  still  held  possession,  hav-" 
ing  inflicted  upon  their  opponents  a  loss  of  ten  thou- 
sand in  killed  and  wounded. 

Other  Eeverses  of  the  Enemy. 

The  enemy  seemed  now  to  be  meeting  with  reverses 
all  along  their  lines.  At  Port  Waltliall  Junction 
Pickett's  Division  had  struck  Gilmore's  command  a 
blow  that  put  him  to  flight,  while  Hampton's  Caval- 
ry had  served  Sheridan  in  a  similar  manner  on  June 
10  at  Trevillian  Station,  and  on  the  18th  Hunter  was 
sent  back  to  the  mountains,  having  been  repulsed 
from  his  anticipated  attack  upon  Lynchburg,  with  a 
loss  of  thirteen  pieces  of  artillery.  South-west  Vir- 
ginia was  also  saved  by  General  Morgan's  bold  ad- 
vance into  Kentucky,  which  forced  the  enemy  to  fol- 
low him  in  order  to  protect  that  State. 

While  these  offshoots,  so  to  speak,  from  the  main 
stem  of  General  Grant's  purposes  were  being  nipped 
in  the  bud,  he  himself  was  made  to  suffer  when  the 
Confederates  under  General  Anderson  fell  upon  the 
Second  and  Sixth  Corps,  penetrated  their  line,  and 
took  one  battery  and  one  whole  brigade.  Still  anoth- 
er Federal  expedition,  commanded  by  Wilson  and 


1864.  IN  VIRGINIA  AGAIN.  207 

Kautz,  came  to  grief  a  score  of  miles  south  of  Pe- 
tersburg. At  the  hands  of  Generals  Hampton,  Ma- 
hone,  and  Finnegan  they  lost  sixteen  hundred 
prisoners,  together  with  artillery,  wagons,  stores, 
and  small-arms. 

General  Grant  now  determined  that  he  must  do 
something  to  retrieve  the  disasters  which  were  fall- 
ing upon  him  thick  and  fast.  Therefore  he  resorted 
to  the  method  of  undermining  and  blowing  up  the 
principal  fortifications  around  Petersburg.  The 
mine  was  constructed  under  Cemetery  Hill,  and  at 
half-past  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  30  the 
match  was  applied,  and  a  mighty  gap  was  rent  in  the 
earth  by  the  explosion.  Simultaneous  with  this  the 
thunders  of  a  hundred  guns  were  opened  upon  the 
city,  which  was  a  signal  for  a  general  attack  on  the 
part  of  the  enemy,  hoping  to  take  the  Confederates 
unawares.  But  they  discovered  how  completely  they 
had  mistaken  the  latter  when  they  found  themselves 
beaten  back  in  rout  and  confusion,  many  falling,  into 
the  crater,  making  with  their  own  dead  and  dying 
the  chasm  which  they  themselves  had  constructed  a 
pit  of  horrors.  This  experiment  cost  General  Grant 
over  five  thousand  men,  while  the  loss  of  the  Confed- 
erates was  comparatively  light— about  one  thousand 
men. 

The  Loss  of  the  "Alabama." 

The  ardor  of  the  Confederates,  however,  was  some- 


208  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

what  cliilled  by  the  loss  of  their  most  formidable  ship 
of  war,  the  "Alabama,"  under  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Semm.es.  On  the  19th  of  June,  in  the  harbor  of 
Cherbourg,  France,  Captain  Semmes  offered  battle  to 
the  Federal  ship,  "Kearsarge."  The  latter  was  so 
well  protected  by  iron  plating  and  chains  that  the 
shot  of  the  "Alabama"  made  little  impression  upon 
her,  while  her  own  shot  were  so  effective  that  in  a 
short  time  it  was  discovered  that  the  Confederate 
vessel  was  in  a  sinking  condition,  and  Captain  Semmes 
was  forced  to  haul  down  his  colors. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
General  Sherman  in  the  South. 

WHILE  General  Grant  was  moving  against 
Eichmond,  General  Sherman  was  preparing 
for  an  invasion  of  the  South  witli  an  army  of  ninety- 
eight  thousand  men  divided  into  three  great  divis- 
ions, under  Generals  Thomas,  Schofield,  and  Mc- 
Pherson.  To  oppose  these  mighty  columns  General 
Johnston  could  only  bring  in  the  field  an  active  army 
of  not  over  forty  thousand  men. 

General  Sherman  now  moved  in  the  direction  of 
Dalton,  Ga.,  and  met  his  first  check  on  the  14th  of 
May  in  the  Kesaca  Valley,  when  he  attempted  to 
carry  the  Confederate  works.  The  enemy  were 
driven  back  with  a  loss  of  two  thousand  men.  Gen- 
eral Johnston  gradually  fell  back  before  the  advanc- 
ing legions  of  the  enemy,  but  all  the  time  waiting 
and  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  strike  a  blow,  if 
the  enemy  should  expose  any  weak  point  or  commit 
a  blunder.  By  the  20th  he  had  crossed  the  Etowah 
River,  and  on  the  25th  he  encountered  the  fortifica- 
tions of  the  enemy  near  Dallas.  The  latter  assunled 
the  offensive  by  hurling  Hooker's  Corps  against 
Stewart's  Division  at  New  Hope  Church;  but  after 
14  (209) 


210  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

struggling  for  two  hours  to  drive  the  Confederates 
from  tlieir  position,  the  Federals  were  repulsed.  All 
day  during  the  26th  and  until  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  27th  was  consumed  in  skirmishes  between 
the  two  armies,  when  the  euemy  again  essayed  an  as- 
sault upon  the  Confederates.  Cleburne's  brave  di- 
vision received  their  attack  this  time  at  the  hands  of 
Howard's  Corps.  The  latter  were  again  beaten  back 
with  an  estimated  loss  of  perhaps  three  thousand 
men,  while  the  Confederates  only  suffered  to  the  ex- 
tent of  four  hundred  and  fifty. 

General  Johnston  still  kept  up  his  brilliantly  con- 
ducted retreat,  striking  the  enemy  now  and  then  some 
severe  blows,  until  he  reached  Kennesaw  Mountain, 
where  he  made  a  stand.  The  huge  column  of  the 
enemy  made  a  strong  attack  on  the  27th  of  May, 
but  they  were  met  by  the  veteran  troops  of  Cheat- 
ham's and  Cleburne's  Divisions  of  Hardee's  Corps, 
together  with  French's  and  Featherstone's  Divisions 
of  Loring's  Corps,  and  the  result  was  that  they  were 
repulsed  with  a  frightful  loss  of  fully  three  thousand 
men,  according  to  their  own  reports.  Thence  Gener- 
al Johnston  was  forced  to  withdraw  to  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Atlanta,  which  the  enemy  began  at  once  to 
besiege. 

The  wise  and  cautious  Johnston  was  superseded  by 
the  rash,  lion-hearted,  but  unfortunate  Hood,  who 
would  not  patiently  endure   a  siege,  but  suddenly 


1864.  GENERAL  SHERMAN   IN   THE   SOUTH.  211 

hurled  a  column,  led  "by  AValker's  and  Bate's  Divis- 
ions of  Hardee's  Corps,  against  the  enemy's  right  at 
Peach  Tree  Creek.  Grandly  they  charged  with  that 
cheer  which  had  been  the  sound  to  which  they  had 
rushed  to  many  a  glorious  victory;  but  with  marvel- 
ous rapidity  the  enemy  managed  to  mass  their  artil- 
lery upon  them,  and  they  were  forced  to  withdraw. 
Two  days  later,  July  22,  by  a  second  attack  with 
Hardee's  Corps  the  enemy  were  driven  from  their 
fortifications,  leaving  in'  the  hands  of  the  Confed- 
erates nearly  two  thousand  prisoners,  twenty-two 
pieces  of  artillery,  and  five  stands  of  colors. 

This  was  followed  by  an  attempt  of  the  enemy  to 
destroy  the  railroads  around  Atlanta.  For  this  pur- 
pose two  forces  of  cavalry,  under  Generals  Stone- 
man  and  McCook,  were  to  meet  near  Lovejoy,  and 
fall  upon  the  Confederate  cavalry  under  General 
Wheeler.  Both  of  these  expeditions  proved  to  be 
hardly  adequate  for  their  task;  for  General  Stone- 
man  was  encountered  near  Macon,  and  he  and 
one  thousand  of  his  men  were  captured,  while  Gen- 
eral McCook  managed  to  escape  with  a  loss  of  five 
hundred  men  captured  by  the  Confederates. 

On  the  28th  of  July  General  Hood  made  a  vigorous 
assault  upon  the  Fifteenth  Corps;  but  he  was  re- 
pulsed with  a  loss  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  How 
grandly  the  Confederates  moved  to  this  attack  forced 
from  General  Sherman  the  remark:  "His  [Hood's] 


212  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

advance  was  magnificent."  For  several  weeks  the 
enemy  kept  up  an  almost  ceaseless  bombardment 
upon  the  city,  until  on  the  18th  of  August  Sher- 
man moved  his  line  upon  the  road  toward  Macon 
in  order  to  cut  off  General  Hood's  supplies.  The 
latter  sent  his  cavalry,  under  General  Wheeler,  to 
harass  the  Federals. 

Meantime  a  part  of  the  Confederates,  under  Gen- 
eral Hardee,  had  intrenched  themselves  at  Jonesboro, 
a  distance  of  twenty-two  miles  from  that  portion  un- 
der General  Hood  at  Atlanta.  Quickly  perceiving 
this  unfortunate  position  of  the  Confederates,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  tlirew  his  army  between  the  two  posi- 
tions. By  the  30th  of  August  the  enemy  had  suc- 
ceeded in  crossing  Flint  Kiver,  and  had  taken  up  a 
position  near  Jonesboro,  where  they  were  subjected 
to  a  fruitless  attack  from  General  Hardee.  This  was 
followed  on  the  1st  of  September  by  an  assault  from 
the  Federals  themselves,  with  a  largely  superior 
force,  and  the  Confederates  found  it  necessary  to  re- 
treat in  the  night,  and  leave  the  position  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  On  the  same  day  General  Hood  also 
evacuated  Atlanta,  and  allowed  the  enemy  the  posses- 
sion of  the  prize  for  which  they  had  been  struggling 
for  more  than  three  months,  but  kept  at  bay  by  an 
army  much  less  than  half  their  own.  The  enemy 
now  heaped  upon  the  citizens  of  Atlanta  all  the  mis- 
fortunes, all  the  indignities,  all  the  hardships  inci- 


1864. 


GENERAL   SHEltMAN   IN   THE   SOUTH.  213 


dent  to  war;  and  to  the  protests  coming  from  both 
General  Hood  and  the  mayor  of  Atlanta  the  Federal 
general  would  reply  that  "war  is  cruelty,  and  you 
cannot  refine  it,"  forgetting  that  modern,  civilized 
warfare  had  for  its  arena  the  battle-field,  where  either 
the  one  side  or  the  other  prevailed  through  superior- 
ity in  courage  and  skill,  and  not  the  oppression  of 
the  women  and  the  children  in  the  cities  which 
chance  or  conquest  might  throw  into  its  hands. 

General  Forrest  at  Guntown. 

A  Federal  expedition,  under  General  Sturgis,  had 
been  sent  out  from  Memphis  for  the  purpose  of  fol- 
lowing in  the  rear  of  General  Sherman  and  co-oper- 
ating with  him.  This  force  assumed  the  title  of  the 
"Avengers  of  Fort  Pillow,"  and  they  took  this  as  a 
pretext  for  robbery,  pillage,  and  murder.  But  these 
acts  were  not  destined  to  go  on  long,  for  by  a  singular 
coincidence  on  the  13th  of  June  they  came  in  contact 
at  Guntown  with  the  terrible  Forrest  and  his  band, 
who  had  perpetrated  the  so-called  "  massacre  "  at  Fort 
Pillow.  Short,  sharp,  and  effective  were  the  blows 
which  this  redoubtable  cavalryman  struck,  and  the 
result  was  that  two  thousand  of  Sturgis's  force  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  almost  as  many  were  killed  and 
wounded. 

General  Early's  Kaid. 

In  Virginia  the  Confederates  assumed  the  oflfen- 


214  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

sive  by  General  Early's  raid  into  Maryland.  On  the 
3d  of  July  he  moved  forward  near  Harper's  Ferry, 
frightening  Sigel  so  badly  at  Martinsburg  that  he 
retreated  to  Sharpsburg,  leaving  in  the  hands  of  the 
Confederates  a  quantity  of  valuable  stores.  After 
two  severe  engagements  the  enemy  were  again  forced 
to  fall  back  to  Maryland  Heights,  where  they  were 
re-enforced  by  Generals  Max  AVeber  and  Lew  Wal- 
lace; thence  they  took  a  position  at  Monocacy  Bridge, 
four  miles  from  Frederick  City.  Here  intrenched 
they  were  attacked  by  General  Early,  and  after  a 
contest  of  two  hours'  duration  they  were  completely 
routed,  with  a  loss  of  over  one  thousand  in  killed  and 
wounded  and  seven  hundred  prisoners,  while  the 
Confederates  won  their  victory  at  the  cost  of  five 
hundred  in  killed  and  wounded. 

Thence  General  Early  advanced  toward  Wash- 
ington, throwing  the  city  into  a  state  of  complete 
consternation  and  terror,  for  his  attack  was  hourly 
expected.  But  the  Confederates  contented  them- 
selves with  withdrawing  a(?ross  the  Potomac,  with  a 
vast  quantity  of  booty  as  the  fruits  of  their  expedi- 
tion, among  which  were  "five  thousand  horses  and 
twenty-five  hundred  beef  cattle."  However,  the  ene- 
my did  not  allow  him  to  depart  in  peace,  but  a  force 
fifteen  thousand  strong,  under  General  Crook,  fol- 
lowed him,  which  General  Early  turned  upon,  about 
five  miles  from  Winchester,  and  thoroughly  routed, 


1864.  GENERAL   SHERMAN   IN   THE   SOUTH.  215 

with  a  loss  of  over  one  thousand,  while  he  himself 
hardly  suffered  to  the  extent  of  sixty  men. 

General  John  Morgan  Invades  Kentucky. 

Coincident  with  General  Early's  expedition  was 
General  Morgan's  second  invasion  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky.  In  rapid  succession  the  Confederates 
captured  Paris,  Georgetown,  Cynthia,  Williamstown, 
and  Mount  Sterling.  At  tlie  latter  place  on  the  9tli 
of  June  General  Morgan  encountered  General  Bur- 
bridge.  The  Federals  had  been  in  pursuit  since  the 
Confederates  left  Pound  Gap.  This  engagement  was 
barren  of  decisive  results  to  either  side,  and  General 
Morgan  continued  his  work  of  destruction — burning 
the  enemy's  cars  and  depots,  and  capturing  two  regi- 
ments of  prisoners  at  the  town  of  Cynthia,  which  was 
also  destroyed.  However,  while  at  breakfast  at  this 
place  on  the  morning  of  June  12,  the  Confederates 
were  surprised  by  the  enemy,  under  General  Bur- 
bridge,  and,  though  the  former  fought  nobly  for  an 
hour,  they  were  defeated,  losing  six  hundred  in  killed 
and  wounded  and  nearly  four  hundred  prisoners. 

General  Price  in  Missouri. 

General  Price's  raid  into  Missouri  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month  of  September  was  equally  Avanting  in 
any  material  benefit.  He  attacked  the  enemy,  who 
were  strongly  fortified  at  Pilot  Knob,  eighty-six  miles 


216  ^  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G4. 

south  of  St.  Louis,  and  forced  them  to  evacuate  the 
place.  The  Confederates  pursued  the  Federals  as 
far  as  Eolla  and  then  desisted,  and  without  further 
operations  went  into  winter-quarters. 

The  "Peace"  Question. 

About  this  time  the  question  of  peace  between  the 
two  sections  was  again  agitated.  So  much  blood  was 
being  spilled,  and  so  much  money  spent,  tliat  at  the 
North,  as  was  made  clearly  evident  from  the  tone  of 
the  leading  newspapers,  was  growing  a  strong  senti- 
ment toward  the  establishment  of  peace  on  terms 
honorable  to  both  sides.  To  show  what  the  South 
had  done  in  the  eifort  to  put  a  stop  to  a  war  that  was 
drawing  from  the  peaceful  walks  of  life  over  three 
million  men,  it  would  be  well  to  quote  from  a  letter 
of  President  Davis  on  the  subject: 

We  liav'e  made  three  distinct  efforts  to  communicate  with  tlie 
authorities  at  Washington,  and  nuve  been  invariably  unsuccess- 
ful. Commissioners  were  sent  before  hostilities  were  begun,  and 
the  Washington  Government  ref  ised  to  receive  them  or  hear 
what  they  had  to  say.  A  second  time  I  sent  a  military  officer 
with  a  communication  addressed  1  y  myself  to  President  Lin- 
coln. The  letter  was  received  by  General  Scott,  who  did  not 
permit  the  officer  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  promised  that  an  an- 
swer would  be  sent.  No  answer  has  been  received.  The  third 
time,  a  few  months  ago,  a  gentleman  was  sent  whose  position, 
character,  and  reputation  were  such  as  to  insure  his  reception 
were  not  the  enemy  determined  to  receive  no  proposals  what- 
ever from  the  Government.    Vice-president  Stephens  made  a 


1864,  GENERAL  SHEEMAN  IN  THE  SOUTH.  217 

• 

patriotic  tender  of  his  services  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  humanity  ;  and  although  little  belief  was  en- 
tertained of  his  success,  I  cheerfully  yielded  to  his  suggestion 
that  the  experiment  should  be  tried.  Tlie  enemy  refused  to  let 
him  pass  through  their  lines  or  to  hold  any  conference  with 
them.  He  was  stopped  before  he  reached  Fortress  Monroe  on 
his  way  to  Washington.  To  attempt  again  (in  the  face  of  these 
repeated  rejections  of  all  conference  with  us)  to  send  commis- 
sioners or  agents  to  propose  peace  is  to  invite  insult  and  con- 
tumely, and  to  subject  ourselves  to  indignities  without  the 
slightest  chapce  of  being  listened  to. 

This  letter  is  given  to  show  the  nature  of  opinion 
at  the  South.  The  people  of  this  section  were  bat- 
tling for  a  principle  which  was,  in  their  eyes,  very 
essential  to  the  freedom  and  prosperity  of  Republican 
institutions;  but,  however  firm  and  tenacious  their  be- 
lief in  the  righteousness  of  this  principle,  even  in  the 
moment  of  victory  they  ever  showed  themselves  will- 
ing and  ready  to  stop  the  ceaseless  flow  of  blood  upon 
a  fair  and  equitable  basis.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
that  party  represented  by  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington, inasmuch  as  it  had  come  into  power  with  the 
tide  of  a  war,  showed  no  disposition  to  treat  with 
the  Southern  States  on  any  but  the  most  humiliat- 
ing terms,  and  would  accept  no  proposition  coming 
from  them  which  looked  toward  an  amicable  and  hon- 
orable settlement;  therefore  in  regard  to  the  character 
and  purpose  of  this  administration  words  were  not 
minced  when  the  Democratic  party  met  in  Chicago 


218  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


1864. 


on  the  29tli  of  August.  Mr.  Augustus  Belmont,  from 
New  York,  said:  "Four  years  of  misrule  by  a  sec- 
tional, fanatical,  and  corrupt  party  have  brought  our 
country  to  the  verge  of  ruin."  Senator  Bigler,  of 
Pennsylvania,  expressed  the  opinion  that  "  the  termi- 
nation of  Democratic  rule  in  this  country  was  the  end 
of  the  peaceful  relations  between  the  States  and  the 
people.  The  men  now  in  authority  through  a  feud 
which  they  have  long  maintained  with  violent  and  un- 
wise men  at  the  South,  because  of  a  blind  fanaticism 
about  an  institution  in  some  of  the  States,  in  relation 
to  which  they  have  no  duties  to  perform  and  no  re- 
sponsibilities to  bear,  are  utterly  incapable  of  adopt- 
ing the  proper  means  to  rescue  our  country  from  its 
present  lamentable  condition."  Governor  Seymour, 
of  New  York,  made  the  following  arraignment  of  the 
character  of  the  Government:  "They  were  animated 
by  intolerance  and  fanaticism,  and  blinded  by  igno- 
rance of  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  the  character 
of  our  people,  and  the  condition  of  our  land.  .  .  . 
They  will  not  have  the  Union  restored  unless  upon 
conditions  unknown  to  the  Constitution.  .  .  .  We 
are  shackled  with  no  hates,  no  prejudices,  no  pas- 
sions. We  wish  for  fraternal  relations  with  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South.  We  demand  for  them  what  we  de- 
mand for  ourselves:  the  full  recognition  of  the  rights 
ot  the  States." 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  crime  of  loving  liberty 


1864.  GENERAL  SHERMAN  IN  THE  SOUTH.  219 

and  hating  fanaticism  was  not  confined  to  the  section 
south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line,  and  that  the 
latter  only  differed  from  those  at  the  North  in  that 
they  had  that  courage  which  has  made  all  individual 
freedom  possible,  and  that  they  resisted  a  practical 
subversion  of  their  rights  with  the  might  of  arms. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Naval  Operations— General  Grant  in  Virginia. 

THE  port  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  was  a  very  important 
naval  station  to  tlie  Confederacy.  Therefore  the 
enemy  proceeded  to  invest  it  by  land  with  a  force 
under  General  Canby,  while  xVdmiral  Farragut  was 
to  make  the  attack  by  water.  The  enemy's  fleet  num- 
bered eighteen  vessels,  with  an  armament  of  over  two 
hundred  guns  and  nearly  three  thousand  men.  To 
meet  this  largo  squadron,  the  Confederates  could  only 
bring  three  gun-boats  and  one  iron-clad,  the  "  Ten- 
nessee." On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  August  the 
Federals  steamed  into  the  harbor,  and  their  entire 
fleet  fell  upon  the  "Tennessee,"  which  gallantly  re- 
risted  with  no  hopes  of  success  against  such  numbers 
until  she  was  forced  to  surrender  when  completely 
surrounded  by  the  enemy.  But  the  latter  did  not  ac- 
complish their  victoi'y  without  the  loss  of  one  of  their 
best  iron-clads,  the  "  Tecumseh,"  which  was  sunk 
by  a  torpedo,  carrying  down  beneath  the  waters  of  the 
gulf  her  commander,  with  the  most  of  his  crew.  On 
the  following  day  the  enemy  turned  their  guns  upon 
Fort  Gaines,  Fort  Powell  having  already  been  taken 

on  the  5th.     In  a  short  time  Fort  Gaines  capitulated, 

(220) 


E-M  GARONI^fi- 


The  "Sumter"  Running  the  Elockarte,  and  Chased  hy  the  Federal  Ship, 
"  Iroquois." 


18(V1.        NAVAL  OPERATIONS — GRANT  IN  VIRGINIA.         221 

which  only  left  one  other  to  oppose  them  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  harbor,  Fort  Morgan,  which  they  were 
unable  to  take  until  the  23d,  when  after  a  brave  re- 
sistance it  fell  into  their  hands.  Bat  the  Confeder- 
ates still  managed  to  hold  the  city  of  Mobile  itself. 

Destruction  of  the  "Florida"  and  "Albemarle." 

This  naval  disaster  was  followed  by  the  destruction 
of  two  Confederate  vessels.  On  the  7th  of  October 
the  privateer  "  Florida  "  was  anchored  in  the  neutral 
harbor  of  San  Salvador,  in  Brazil,  with  most  of  her 
crew  upon  the  shore,  when  she  was  run  into  and  capt- 
ured by  the  Federal  vessel  "  Wachusetts."  For  this 
outrage  and  violation  of  the  laws  cf  nations  the  Gov- 
ernment at  "Washington  afterward  apologized  to  Brazil. 

On  the  27th  of  the  same  month  the  ram  "Albe- 
marle "  was  exploded  by  a  torpedo  in  the  Boanoke 
Eiver,  but  the  agents  in  this  expedition  under  Lieu- 
tenant Cushing  were  captured. 

The  Attempts  upon  Kichmond. 

On  the  night  of  the  28th  of  September  the  enemy 
again  resumed  their  efforts  against  the  Confederate 
line  around  Bichmond  by  crossing  to  the  north  side 
of  the  James  in  large  force.  On  the  next  morning 
they  hurled  their  column  against  our  position  at  the 
Phillips  House  on  Four  Mile  Bun;  but  they  had  the 
misfortune  to  encounter  the  Texas  Brigade,  and  were 


222  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  1864. 

repulsed  with  great  slaughter.  They  followed  this 
with  another  attack  on  Market  Heights,  with  results 
equally  disastrous.  Another  column  of  the  enemy 
succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  Fort  Harrison  be- 
fore assistance  could  reach  it,  and  then  they  advanced 
upon  Fort  Gilmer,  but  the  gallant  Confederates  re- 
pulsed them  and  sent  them  back  with  great  loss. 
This  action  closed  the  day's  fighting,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  enemy  had  lost  over  four  thousand  in  killed 
and  wounded,  with  six  flags  and  five  hundred  prison- 
ers. On  the  next  day  (the  30th)  General  Field  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  retake  Fort  Harrison,  but 
owing  to  a  failure  of  support  just  at  the  proper  time, 
he  was  repulsed. 

The  dawn  of  October  6  saw  the  Confederates  with 
General  Geary's  Brigade  of  cavalry  make  a  brilliant 
attack  upon  the  enemy's  right  on  the  Charles  City 
Road,  about  five  miles  from  Richmond.  The  latter 
were  driven  back  to  their  works,  but  the  Confederates 
did  not  stop,  but  in  their  enthusiasm  they  rushed  over 
the  works,  pushing  the  Federals  out,  and  capturing 
seven  hundred  prisoners,  nine  gun's,  and  one  hundred 
horses.  Again  the  enemy  made  another  stand  at  their 
second  line  of  intrenchments;  but  they  melted  away 
before  the  impetuous  onslaught  of  the  Confederates, 
and  fled  to  the  shelter  of  the  guns  of  Fort  Harrison. 
Re-enforced,  they  returned  to  retake  the  works  from 
which  they  had  been  beaten;  but  the  Confederates 


1864.        NAVAL  OPERATIONS — GRANT  IN  VIRGINIA.        223 

sent  them  back  shattered  and  broken  with  terrible 
loss,  and  night  put  an  end  to  the  contest. 

On  the  27th  General  Grant  made  an  effort  to  turn 
General  Lee's  left  flank,  and  was  advancing  his 
columns  by  the  Williamsburg  and  Nine  Mile  roads. 
The  works  on  the  latter  position  had  been  taken  by 
three  brigades  of  negro  troops;  but  they  could  not 
maintain  themselves  long,  for  Hampton's  Legion  and 
the  Twenty-fourth  Virginia  drove  them  back  with 
terrible  slaughter.  On  the  other  road  (the  Williams- 
burg) the  enemy  had  stationed  their  batteries,  and 
were  pouring  shots  and  shells  into  the  Confederate 
works.  The  latter  endured  this  cannonading  ifl 
silence,  and  thus  misled  the  enemy  into  making  a 
charge.  Having  reserved  their  fire  until  the  Fed- 
erals were  close  upon  them,  they  made  the  ground 
tremble  with  the  terrific  thunder  of  their  artillery 
and  musketry,  and  the  enemy  broke  and  fled  in  con- 
fusion, with  a  loss,  besides  a  considerable  number 
in  killed  and  wounded,  of  five  hundred  prisoners. 
Again,  the  attack  upon  the  gray  lines  on  the  Boydton 
road  proved  no  less  disastrous  to  the  enemy,  for  Gen- 
eral Mahone  received  them  so  valiantly  that  he  soon 
had  them  in  full  retreat,  leaving  with  the  Confederates 
as  their  spoils  of  victory  over  four  hundred  prisoners. 

Thus  this  human  wall  was  still  between  the  capital 
of  the  Confederacy  and  the  enemy.  With  unbroken 
front  the  latter  were  met  at  every  point,  ^  and  in  this 


224  THE  CIVIL  WAE.  18G4. 

autumn  of  1864  they  seemed  as  far  from  gaining  their 
object  as  in  the  fall  of  1861.  But  still  the  Federal 
general  persisted,  and  made  up  in  tenacity  for  any 
lack  of  military  genius.  Surely  he  must  have  had  a 
certain  premonition  that  one  day  these  gray  veterans 
who  flung  themselves  so  often  between  him  and  the 
goal  of  his  struggles  must  inevitably  succumb  to  the 
solid  and  almost  innumerable  lines  which  he  was 
throwing  around  them,  however  heroically  they  might 
fight. 

Sheridan's  Eaid  in  the  Valley. 

Coincident  with  his  operations  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  city,  the  Federal  commander  adopted 
another  plan,  which,  if  successfully  consummated, 
would  deprive  General  Lee  of  his  source  of  supplies 
from  the  rich,  productive  valley  of  the  Shenandoah. 
For  this  purpose  General  Hunter  was  superseded  on 
the  8th  of  August  by  General  Sheridan,  who  had  un- 
der his  command  no  less  than  three  corps,  together 
with  the  divisions  of  Cook,  Averill,  and  Kelly.  With 
this  large  force  he  proceeded  to  take  possession  of 
Martinsburg,  Williamsport,  and  Winchester,  Gener- 
al Early  falling  gradually  back  before  his  advance. 
Near  Winchester,  however,  on  the  19th  of  September, 
though  outnumbered  nearly  four  to  one,  the  Confed- 
erates made  a  stand.  The  enemy  moved  to  the  attack, 
and  the  engagement  was  stubbornly  and  hotly  contest- 
ed.   One  division  of  the  enemy  was  broken  and  thrown 


ISCA.        NAVAL  OPERATIONS— GllANT  IN  VIRGINIA.         225 

into  confusion,  wliich  the  Confederates  took  advantage 
of  and  cLaiged.  A  glorious  victory  seemed  almost 
in  their  hands.  The  impetuous  rush  of  Early's  men 
was  carrying  every  thing  before  it,  and  the  enemy  were 
obliged  to  call  in  their  reserves  to  the  rescue  in  order  , 
to  restore  their  shattered  lines.  Unfortunately,  the  en- 
emy fell  upon  the  Confederate  cavalry  on  the  left  and 
threw  it  into  confusion,  which  made  a  retreat  neces- 
sary. General  Early  then  took  up  a  strong  position 
at  Fisher's  Hill,  whither  the  enemy  followed,  and  on 
the  22d  moved  to  attack  him.  With  their  large  num- 
bers the  enemy  managed  to  literally  surround  Gener- 
al Early's  command  and  to  force  them  from  their 
intrenchments,  driving  them  beyond  Port  Republic 
with  a  loss  of  over  seven  hundred  prisoners.  This 
victory  left  the  Federals  in  complete  possession  of  the 
rich  valley,  and  they  at  once  turned  themselves  loose 
in  it,  pillaging  and  destroying  every  thing  of  worth 
and  value,  so  that  along  their  track  were  ruin  and  des- 
olation.    Farm  and  manufactory  were  leveled  to  the 

ft 

earth  as  if  by  the  breath  of  a  hurricane,  and  the 
beautiful  and  picturesque  valley,  that  fairly  blos- 
somed like  a  garden,  became  as  a  desert  and  a  waste 
place. 

Battle  of  Cedar  Creek. 

The  undaunted  Early,  in  spite  of  his  two  defeats, 

was  not  yet  prepared  to  allow  the  enemy  to  rest  on 

their  laurels  without  another  struggle;  therefore  we 
15 


226  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G4. 

find  him  again  at  Fisher's  Hill  on  the  18th  of  October, 
"with  two  corps  of  Sheridan's  army  in  his  front  on 
the  north  side  of  Cedar  Creek.  Another  corps,  the 
Sixth,  was  between  Middletown  and  Newtown.  Sher- 
idan himself  was  at  Winchester  with  his  cavalry  a 
little  withdrawn  from  the  front."  By  a  toilsome,  ar- 
duous night  march  through  a  mountainous  countiy, 
with  the  Shenandoah  to  be  crossed  twice,  General 
Early  placed  himself  in  front  of  the  enemy.  AVith  a 
gallant,  sweeping  charge,  he  struck  terror  to  them, 
taking  them  completely  by  surprise,  and  soon  had 
Sheridan's  magnificent  army,  of  three  corps  in  a  con- 
fused, panic-stricken  retreat,  leaving  in  the  hands  of 
the  victorious  Confederates  their  camps  with  one 
thousand  five  hundred  prisoners;  but  the  fatal  mis- 
take was  made  of  stopping  to  plunder  the  abandoned 
booty  of  the  Federals.  This  gave  them  time  to  re- 
organize their  demoralized  divisions  and  to  renew  the 
battle.  Misfortune  followed  misfortune.  In  one  of 
those  inexplainable  moments  that  come  to  men  whose 
courage  has  been  tested  upon  a  hundred  battle-fields, 
the  followers  of  Early,  that  had  made  illustrious  the 
Army  of  Virginia,  gave  way  in  a  disordered  retreat, 
sustaining  a  total  loss  of  three  thousand  while  the 
glory  of  one  of  the  grandest  victories  of  the  war  was 
just  in  their  grasp.  With  this  reverse  the  larger 
portion  of  his  army  was  transferred  to  assist  General 
Lee  around  Richmond. 


18g4.      naval  opekations— grant  in  virginia.      227 

General  Breckinridge  in  East  Tennessee. 
While  these  important  battles  were  taking  place  in 
Northern  Virginia  General  Breckinridge  had  admin- 
istered two  severe  defeats  upon  the  enemy  in  the 
South-west — one  on  the  Holston  Eiver  on  the  2d  of 
October,  and  one  at  Morristown,  Tenn.,  on  the  18tli  of 
November.  On  the  20th  of  the  following  month  the 
enemy  made  a  raid  into  Virginia,  capturing  the  salt- 
works at  Saltville,  and,  forcing  Colonel  Preston  to 
evacuate  Fort  Breckinridge,  they  sacked  the  town  of 
Abingdon. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Operations  of  Generals  Sherman  and  Hood. 

IT  now  becomes  necessary  to  resume  the  narrative 
of  General  Hood's  movements  after  the  evacuation 
of  Atlanta.  In  reviewing  these  forces  on  the  18th  of 
September  President  Davis  had  told  Cheatham's  Di- 
vision to  be  of  good  cheer,  for  within  a  short  while 
their  faces  would  be  turned  homeward,  and  their  feet 
pressing  Tennessee  soil. 

Ten  days  later  General  Hood  took  up  his  line  of 
march  toward  Tennessee,  with  Sherman  following  on 
the  3d  of  October.  On  the  12th  the  Confederates 
took  Dalton;  thence  they  proceeded  to  La  Fayette; 
and  from  that  place  they  moved  across  to  Gadsden, 
Ala.,  pursued  by  General  Sherman  as  far  as  Gayles- 
ville.  The  latter  cut  himself  loose  from  all  commu- 
nication with  the  North,  and  took  up  his  celebrated 
movement  to  the  sea,  while  General  Hood  advanced 
into  Tennessee,  driving  the  enemy  constantly  before 
him,  and  forcing  General  Schofield  to  fall  back  from 
Columbia  on  the  26th  of  November,  with  the  loss  of 
a  large  quantity  of  stores.  "  The  retreat  to  Franklin 
was  one  of  constant  fighting.     Skirmishing  of  the 

very  heaviest  and  'deadliest  character  was  maintained 
(228) 


1864.  OPERATIONS  OF  SHERMAN  AND  HOOD.  229 

all  the  way.  Forrest  hung  like  a  raging  tiger  upon 
the  rear.  .  .  .  The  Confederates  pressed  on — 
Forrest  leading,  Stewart  next,  and  Cheatham  follow- 
ing. Lee  was  still  in  the  rear,  but  coming  up.  The 
enemy  were  closely  pushed,  retreated  rapidly,  and 
left  evidences  of  their  haste  on  every  side."  In  this 
way  the  march  was  continued  until  on  the  evening 
of  November  30,  when  General  Hood  found  himself 
before  the  frowning  breastworks  of  the  town  of 
Franklin.  The  troops  under  him  were  now  upon  the 
soil  of  their  native  State,  which  had  long  been  in  the 
possession  of  the  enemy.  They  could  look  around 
them  and  see  the  homes  that  had  been  denied  them 
for  many  a  long  day,  and  for  which  now  at  their  very 
thresholds  they  were  to  do  battle.  With  such  incen- 
tives as  these  urging  them  to  action,  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  they  began  one  of  the  grandest  at- 
tacks of  the  war,  an  attack  illuminated  by  as  sublime 
an  exhibition  of  personal  courage  from  field-officer 
to  the  humblest  private  in  the  ranks  as  has  ever  bla- 
zoned the  records  of  human  bravery.  In  the  face  of 
a  fire  that  tore  ghastly  gashes  in  their  unfaltering 
column  they  stormed  and  drqve  the  enemy  from  the 
first  line  of  works.  Onward  they  advanced,  stopping 
not  nor  halting  however  obstinately  the  enemy  might 
resist  and  however  thick  might  be  that  /?wf  ul,  bloody 
field  of  carnage  with  their  own  dead.  On  that  crim- 
son battle-ground  many  a  knightly  soul  went  out 


230  THE   CIVIL  WAll.  18G4. 

while  within  sight  of  the  firesides  wliere  their  wives 
and  little  ones  were  praying  and  watching  for  the  ab- 
sent soldiers'  return.  This  was  the  last  battle  of 
gallant  Pat  Cleburne,  "the  bravest  of  the  brave." 
The  gallant  Gist  fell  in  this  conflict,  as  also  did 
Brown,  Strahl,  Johnson,  and  Manigault;  and  though 
the  gray  dawn  of  the  next  day  saw  the  Federal  army 
shattered  and  flying  toward  Nashville,  the  victory 
had  been  dearly  bought,  and  the  sacrifice  that  these 
Tennesseeans  offered  upon  the  altars  of  their  country 
was  great. 

Battle  of  Nashville. 

General  Hood  followed  the  enemy  to  Nashville, 
and  on  the  2d  of  December  proceeded  to  invest  the 
city,  where  General  Thomas  was  strongly  fortified 
with  a  largely  superior  force.  Therefore,  with  his 
own  numbers  largely  in  excess  of  those  of  General 
Hood,  General  Thomas  felt  no  hesitation  in  assum- 
ing the  offensive.  Accordingly,  on  the  15th  he  moved 
out  his  heavy  columns  against  both  flanks  of  the  Con- 
federates, but  they  were  beaten  off  with  severe  losses. 
Not  discouraged  by  these  reverses,  they  renewed 
the  contest  on  the  next  day  by  attacking  the  entire 
Confederate  line.  All  day  the  latter  resisted  grand- 
ly the  overwhelming  numbers  that  were  being  thrown 
against  them,  and  until  late  in  the  afternoon  it 
seemed  that  the  story  of  Franklin  was  to  be  more 
gloriously  repeated.     But  just  at  the  crisis  of  the 


Col.  John  Overton's  Residence,  General  Hood's  Head-qnarters  at  the 

Battle  of  Nashville. 

(230) 


18G4.  OPERATIONS  OF  SHEEMAN  AND  HOOD.  231 

battle,  when  it  was  almost  evident  that  the  "  stars  and 
bars"  were  once  more  going  to  be  graced  with  the 
laurels  of  victory,  a  weak,  unsupported  point  in  the 
center  was  crushed  by  the  heavy  mass  of  the  enemy. 
This  misfortune  for  the  Confederates  was  a  signal  for 
a  general  retreat  of  the  whole  army,  with  the  loss  of 
fifty  cannon  and  most  of  the  ordnance  wagons.  With 
this  disaster  General  Hood  crossed  the  Tennessee 
River  and  entered  Mississippi;  and  at  Tupelo,  on  the 
23d  of  January,  1835,  he  resigned  the  command  of 
the  army. 

General  Sherman's  March. 

From  this  reverse  of  the  Confederates  at  Nash- 
ville we  again  turn  to  General  Sherman,  whom  we 
left  beginning  his  march  through  Georgia,  which  the 
Federals  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  the  war.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  go 
into  this  movement  in  detail.  Its  record  is  written 
in  the  ruthless  desolation  of  a  great  State,  the  pil- 
laging of  its  citizens,  and  the  destruction  of  their 
property. 

With  almost  no  opposition  the  enemy  swept  com- 
pletely across  the  State,  and  by  the  10th  of  December 
they  were  before  the  fortifications  of  Savannah,  which 
were  held  by  General  Hardee  with  fifteen  -thousand 
men.  Between  four  and  five  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  13th  the  enemy  stormed  and  captured  the  im- 
portant position  of  Fort  McAllister.     Until  the  16th 


232  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G4. 

General  Sherman  kept  up  a  bombardment  from  all 
sides,  botli  by  land  and  water,  when  he  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  city.  This  demand  General  Hardee 
refused  to  accede  to,  and  on  the  night  of  the  20th  he 
escaped  with  his  troops,  retreating  toward  Charles- 
ton, and  on  the  following  day  the  enemy  took  formal 
possession,  signalizing  the  closing  days  of  the  year 
1864  with  this  crushing  disaster  to  the  Confederate 
cause. 

Attempts  upon  Wilmington. 

The  next  objective  point  of  the  enemy  was  Wil- 
mington, N.  C,  especially  defended  by  Fort  Fisher. 
Therefore  on  the  23d  of  December  we  find  Admiral 
Porter  before  Fort  Fisher,  with  the  largest  fleet  un- 
der his  command  the  Federals  had  ever  yet  assem- 
bled. Operations  were  begun  on  the  same  night  by 
the  explosion  of  a  "  powder "  vessel  close  under  the 
walls  of  the  fort,  which  was  expected  to  destroy  it. 
But  this  ingenious  contrivance  totally  failed  of  its 
purpose,  and  the  next  day  was  consumed  in  a  heavy 
bombardment,  to  which  the  brave  garrison  responded 
vigorously  and  warmly.  Meantime  General  Butler 
came  up  with  a  land  force  six  thousand  five  hundred 
strong,  which  was  to  attack  the  fort  in  conjunction  with 
the  fleet. '  All  the  next  day  the  fleet  kept  up  a  terrific 
cannonading,  so  that  the  earth  trembled  as  if  in  the 
throes  of  an  earthquake.  But  still  the  defenders  of 
the  fort  worked  their  guns  in  a  magnificent  fashion. 


18G5.  OPERATIONS  OF  SHERMAN  AND  HOOD.  233 

The  land  force  did  not  risk  an  attack,  and  this  expe- 
dition proved  such  a^  complete  failure  as. to  cost  Gen- 
eral Butler  his  command. 

However,  the  enemy  were  not  content  with  their 
reverse  from  such  an  important  point,  and  by  Janu- 
ary 13,  1865,  they  had  another  force  stronger  by  two 
thousand  men  before  the  walls  of  Fort  Fisher.  Dur- 
ing the  night  they  had  succeeded  in  landing  and 
throwing  up  such  a  strong  line  of  intrenchments  that 
General  Bragg  decided  not  to  attempt  to  dislodge 
them,  but  to  re-enforce  the  fort.  The  continuous 
bombardment  from  the  fleet  never  ceased,  and,  with 
their  attention  thus  engaged  toward  defending  them- 
selves from  the  water,  on  the  night  of  the  15th  the 
garrison  were  attacked  by  an  assaulting  column  four 
thousand  strong.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were 
worn  out  and  exhausted  with  the  hard  and  arduous 
labor  of  manning  the  guns,  for  three  long  hours  they 
resisted  with  a  courage  born  of  desperation,  until 
the  force  of  numbers  compelled  them  to  surrender, 
though  indeed  not  until  eight  hundred  of  the  enemy 
lay  dead  and  wounded. 

From  this  victory  the  Federals  did  not  get  imme- 
diate possession  of  the  town  of  Wilmington,  for  it 
was  not  abandoned  by  General  Bragg  until  the  latter 
part  of  February,  when  he  retreated  into  the  interior 
of  the  State,  and  left  it  in  their  hands  without  resist- 
ance. 


234  THE  CIVIL  WAIt.  18G5. 

Fall  of  Chableston  and  Columbia. 

Almost  one  month  from  his  success  at  Savannah 
General  Sherman  again  set  his  column  in  motion  to- 
ward the  north,  with  Charleston  as  the  objective 
point.  General  Hardee,  perceiving  that  his  forces 
were  much  too  small  to  offer  any  thing  like  a  suc- 
cessful resistance,  and  appreciating  the  importance 
of  making  a  juncture  with  Generals  Beauregard  and 
Cheatham,  after  burning  all  Government  buildings 
and  stores,  abandoned  to  the  rapacity  of  the  enemy 
the  historic,  noble  old  city,  which  place  they  entered 
February  18.  The  indentations  of  shells,  the  marks 
of  fire,  the  ruins  on  every  side  stood  like  grand 
though  somber  and  sorrowful  monuments  to  the 
heroism  of  a  people  who  had  endured  so  bravely  and 
so  patiently  all  the  horrors  and  misfortunes  that 
come  in  the  train  of  war — siege  and  bombardment, 
rapine  and  murder — yet  so  noble  and  eloquent  in 
her  ruins,  so  very  typical  of  the  M'hole  South,  whose 
very  scars  were  a  glory  and  honor  to  her,  telling  a 
grand  story  of  how  she  had  fought  and  toiled  and 
struggled  and  labored  in  the  face  of  adverse  circum- 
stances. 

Leaving  Charleston,  General  Sherman  still  contin- 
ued his  devastating  march.  Columbia  met  even  a 
more  terrible  fate  than  Charleston.  A  large  portion 
of  the  town  was  given  to  the  devouring  flames,  while 
no  part  of  it  escaped  the  thirst  for  robbery  and  plun- 


18G5.  OPERATIONS  OF  SHERMAN  AND  HOOD.  235 

der  which  had  taken  complete  possession  of  the  Fed- 
eral army.  Citizens  were  rendered  houseless  and 
homeless,  and  whatever  valuables  they  had  the  ene- 
my appropriated  to  their  own  use. 

On  this  band  of  invaders  advanced;  nor  did  they 
abate  those  tactics  that  had  first  characterized  their 
entrance  into  the  State  of  Georgia.  On  the  6th  of 
March  they  crossed  the  Great  Pedee  Eiver,  against 
the  towns  of  Laurel  Hill  and  Montpelier,  N.  C, 
meeting  with  no  resistance  until  March  10,  when 
General  Kilpatrick's  forces  received  a  severe  blow  at 
the  hands  of  General  Wade  Hampton.  On  the  16th 
the  enemy  came  up  with  General  Hardee,  who  was 
fortified  between  Cape  Fear  River  and  Black  Creek. 
The  latter  gallantly  sustained  three  assaults  from 
two  corps  under  General  Slocum,  and  then  retreated. 
The  severity  of  this  engagement  is  showed  by  the 
fact  thnt  the  enemy  lost  thirty-three  hundred  men, 
while  the  Confederates  lost  only  four  hundred  and 
fifty. 

Again,  three  days  later.  General  Johnston  made 
another  blow  for  the  cause  of  the  State.  Eight 
bravely  was  this  blow  struck  upon  Slocum,  at  Ben- 
tonville.  Generals  Bate's  and  Cleburne's  Divisions 
swept  the  enemy  from  two  lines  of  fortifications  on 
the  right,  while  Generals  Hill  and  Loring  accom- 
plished the  same  thing  on  the  left.  At  evening  the 
Federals  were  heavily  re-enforced,  and,  when  it  was 


236  THE   CIVIL  WAE.  1865. 

found  on  the  next  morning  that  they  had  intrenched 
themselves,  General  Johnston  declined  to  renew  the 
battle,  and  retreated  in  the  direction  of  Ealeigh. 
General  Sherman  then  took  up  his  head-quarters  at 
Goldsboro. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  End. 

THUS  now  one  needs  no  prophetic  eye  to  see  that 
the  final  act  in  the  great  drama  is  near  at  hand, 
that  the  catastrophe  is  approaching.  The  North,  . 
with  her  mighty  hosts,  is  tightening  and  drawing  in 
the  lines.  The  South,  though  she  had  gained  vic- 
tory after  victory,  never  had  a  force  adequate  to  con- 
summate the  war  in  a  complete  victory  for  the  Con- 
federacy. Therefore,  from  the  beginning  it  was 
merely  a  question  of  time  when  those  very  first  vic- 
tories themselves,  as  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
hastened  defeat;  for  they  cost  many  lives,  and  the 
Confederate  dead  tliat  lay  upon  the  battle-fields  of 
Murfreesboro,  Shiloh,  Gettysburg,  Chancellorsville, 
and  other  places  could  not  be  replaced  with  the  living; 
whereas  the  North  was  rich  in  men  and  resources, 
and  her  armies  stretched  in  an  almost  unbroken  line 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Eio  Grande.  What  could  a 
Confederate  victory  avail  against  such  a  power,  with 
the  whole  world  for  a  recruiting-ground?  The  South 
had  worn  herself  literally  out  with  the  victories  won 
from  the  enemy;  and  now,  with  a  depleted  army  and 
an  exhausted  commissary,  one  only  wonders  in  admi- 

(237) 


238  ^-HE  CIVIL  WAR.  1805. 

ration  that  divine  courage  could  so  triampli  over  the 
weakness  of  human  physical  nature  as  to  enable  those 
veterans  of  the  Army  of  Virginia  and  of  the  Army  of 
Tennessee  to  resist  so  long  and  so  bravely.  Grand 
indeed  must  have  been  the  motives  that  actuated 
those  hearts  and  caused  those  arms  to  strike  the  su- 
perior forces  of  the  enemy  so  effectively  and  terribly 
for  four  long  years  of  civil  warfare. 

Peace  Conference. 

Early  in  the  year  1865  a  conference  took  place  be- 
tween President  Lincoln,  Mr.  Seward,  and  three  com- 
missioners appointed  by  President  Davis — Messrs. 
Stephens,  Campbell,  and  Hunter.  The  meeting  was 
held  on  board  a  steamer  anchored  in  Hampton 
Boads;  but  the  Government  at  Washington  still  in- 
sisted upon  terms  which  the  Confederacy  would  not 
accept,  and  nothing  tangible  resulted  from  the  con- 
ference. 

Consequently  hostilities  in  Northern  Virginia  were 
again  resumed  by  Sheridan  once  more  raiding  up  the 
Shenandoah  Valley.  Near  Waynesboro,  toward  the 
end  of  February,  he  fell  upon  the  weakened  rem- 
nants of  General  Early's  Division,  defeated  them, 
and  took  as  many  as  thirteen  hundred  prisoners. 
Thence  the  Federals  proceeded  on  their  course  of 
destruction,  and  finally  joined  General  Meade  near 
Petersburg. 


1865.  THE  END.  239 

Closing  Conflicts. 

The  enemy  still  continued  to  batter  with  their  huge 
forces  the  weakened,  poorly  fed,  and  ill-clothed  lines 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Richmond.  On  the  6th 
of  February  they  flung  themselves  against  Pegram's 
Division,  and  were  on  the  point  of  overpowering 
it  when  General  Evans  arrived  with  General  Gor- 
don's Division.  Charge  after  charge  was  made,  but 
still  the  enemy  managed  to  maintain  themselves 
until  the  Confederates  were  further  re-enforced  by 
General  Mahone.  With  their  former  enthusiasm 
and  spirit  they  swept  the  Federals  before  them  in 
confusion  to  the  shelter  of  their  fortifications  at 
Hatcher's  Run. 

This  was  followed  by  a  well-planned  attack  upon 
the  enemy's  position  at  Hare's  Hill,  near  Appomat- 
tox. Here  again  was  a  glimmer  of  the  glory  of  the 
former  days  of  the  war.  Early  on  the  morning  of 
March  25  General  Gordon  surprised  and  captured  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  Federal  works,  repulsing 
brilliantly  two  successive  attacks  of  their  infantry  to 
regain  them.  But  the  Confederates  were  forced  by 
the  artillery  which  the  enemy  massed  against  them 
to  abandon  the  position  which  they  had  taken,  carry- 
ing back  with  them,  however,  seventeen  pieces  of  ar- 
tillery and  six  hundred  prisoners. 

This  partial,  spasmodic  success  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  April  by  the 


240  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G5. 

blows  which  the  enemy  struck  against  the  gray  wall 
around  Petersburg,  now  grown  so  thin  that  it  would 
seem  sheer  madness  for  them  to  attempt  to  offer  resist- 
ance to  the  heavy,  unbroken  columns  of  the  Federals. 
However,  they  fought  in  the  face  of  despair  itself, 
and  were  pierced  by  the  numerous  hosts  of  the  ene- 
my. Here  in  the  closing  scenes  General  A.  P.  Hill, 
another  of  the  South's  great  leaders,  laid  down  his 
life  for  the  Confederate  cause,  and  was  placed  in  the 
muster-roll  of  immortals  as  one  of  the  heroes  in  the 
struggle.  But  yet  a  greater  loss  was  in  store  for  the 
South.  The  clouds  were  gathering  to  cast  their 
shadows  over  the  brightness  of  that  spring  day. 
The  city  of  their  love,  for  the  defense  of  which  their 
best,  their  truest  blood  had  been  poured  out^in 
front  of  whose  fortifications  lay  the  bones  of  those 
whose  return  was  watched  for  in  the  Carolinas,  in 
Tennessee,  in  Georgia,  in  Louisiana,  in  Mississippi, 
in  Alabama,  and  in  far-off  Texas — was  soon  to  be 
given  over  into  the  hands  of  the  foeman. 

While  President  Davis  was  attending  church  on  the 
2d  of  April  a  notice  was  brought  to  him  from  General 
Lee,  telling  him  of  the  disaster  at  Petersburg,  which 
made  the  evacuation  of  Kichmond  necessary  on  that 
very  night.  As  President  Davis  retired  the  services 
were  put  to  an  end  and  the  dread  news  soon  spread 
all  over  the  city,  causing  many  a  cheek  to  blanch  and 
many  a  strong  heart  to  throb  in  unspeakable  sorrow 


1865. 


THE  END.  241 


over  the  loss  of  this  the  last  stronghold  and  the  only- 
hope  of  the  young  Government  that  had  lived  its  life 
in  the  midst  of  the 'troublous  times  of  war.  Night 
came,  and  Richmond  was  without  defenders,  and  to 
add  to  the  gloom  of  the  situation  many  large  ware- 
houses had  been  burned  by  the  retreating  Confeder- 
ates, that  their  contents  might  not  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  victors.  In  this  conflagration  it  would  seem 
that  the  hopes  which  in  the  moments  of  victory  prom- 
ised a  glorious  consummation  in  the  formation  of  a 
free,  happy,  contented  union  of  individual  States,  into 
which  jealousy,  passion,  and  prejudice  could  find  no 
place,  were  being  consumed  and  only  the  dead  ashes 
of  despair  were  left  them. 

Early  on  the  morning  following  the  evacuation  a 
detachment  of  cavalry  from  General  Weitzel's  Divis- 
ion planted  the  United  States  flag  upon  the  dome 
of  the  capitol,  and  later  in  the  day  General  Weitzel 
himself   entered  the  city  and   put  it  under  martial 

law.  ■ 

The  Surrender. 

The  fortunes  of  the  little  band  under  General  Lee 

need  not  be  pressed  much  farther.     Tliey  were  now 

on  the  north  side  of  the  Appomattox  River,  with  the 

enemy  pressing  and  harassing  them  on  all  sides,  and 

gradually  capturing  squad  after  squad  of  his  worn 

and  exhausted  troops.     Against  such  a  force  as  that  of 

the  enemy  it  would  be  utterly  useless  for  him  to  hurl 
16 


242  THE   CIVIL  WAR.  18G5. 

his  decimated  columns.  Moreover,  many  of  liis  men, 
foreseeing  tlie  inevitable  result,  had  left  the  ranks, 
and  were  seeking  to  escape  to  their  homes  in  order  to 
avoid  subjecting  themselves  to  the  humiliation  of  a 
surrender.  The  Federal  commander  himself  clearly 
XJerceived  the  sure  doom  that  awaited  the  once  glori- 
ous army  of  Northern  Virginia — still  grand  even  in 
the  midst  of  its  misfortunes — and  on  the  7th  of  April 
sent  a  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  troops  that 
had  made  themselves  the  admiration  of  the  world. 
After  a  correspondence  lasting  through  two  days,  the 
following  terms  were  proposed  by  General  Grant,  and 
agreed  to  by  General  Lee  on  the  9th: 

Eoll  of  all  officers  and  men  to  be  made  in  duplicate,  and  one 
copy  to  be  given  to  an  officer  to  be  designated  by  me  and  the 
other  to  be  retained  by  such  officers  as  you  may  designate;  the 
officers  to  give  their  individual  parole  not  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged, 
and  each  company  or  regimental  commander  to  sign  a  like  parole 
for  the  men  of  their  commands.  The  arms,  artillery,  and  public 
property  to  Ije  packed  and  stacked  and  turned  over  by.  me  to 
officers  appointed  to  receive  them.  Tliis  will  not  embrace  the 
side-arms  of  the  officers,  nor  their  private  horses  or  baggage. 

This  done,  each  officer  and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return  to 
their  homes,  not  to  be  disturbed  by  United  States  authority  so 
long  as  they  observe  their  parole  and  the  laws  in  force  where 
they  may  reside. 

The  conference  between  General  -Lee  and  General 
Grant  was  held  in  the  residence  of  Mr.  Wilmer  Mc- 
Lean, at  Appomattox  Court-house.     The  meeting  was 


Mr.  Wilmcr  ^McLean's  licsiilence,  ~\\hcrc  General  Lee  Surreiulered. 

(242) 


18(^5.  THE  END.  243 

of  the  simplest  character.  Each  conducted  himself 
with  dignity  and  courtesy,  the  Federal  Commander 
displaying  a  magnanimity  worthy  of  recording  in  that 
he  subjected  General  Lee  to  no  humiliating  forms  and 
conditions.  The  result  was  that  General  Lee  issued 
the  following  order  to  his  troops: 

General  Order  No.  9. 

After  four  years  of  arduous  ser.vice,  marked  by  unsurpassed 
courage  and  fortitude,  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  has  been 
compelled  to  yield  to  overwhelming  numbers  and  resources. 

I  need  not  tell  the  brave  survivors  of  so  many  hard-fought 
battles  who  Iiave  remained  steadfast  to  the  last  that  I  have  con- 
sented to  this  result  from  no  distrust  of  them ;  but  feeling  that 
valor  and  devotion  could  accomplish  nothing  that  would  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  that  must  have  attended  the  continuation  of  the 
contest,  I  determined  to  avoid  the  sacrifice  of  those  whose  past 
services  have  endeared  them  to  their  countrymen. 

By  the  terms  of  agreement,  officers  and  men  can  return  to 
their  homes  and  remain  until  exchanged.  You  will  take  with 
you  the  satisfaction  that  proceeds  from  the  consciousness  of  duty 
faithfully  i>erformed;  and  I  earnestly  pray  that  a  merciful  God 
will  extend  to  you  his  blessings  and  i^rotection. 

With  an  unceasing  admiration  of  your  constancy  and  devo- 
tion to  your  country  and  a  grateful  remembrance  of  your  kind 
and  generoas  consideration  of  myself,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate 
farewell.  R.  E.  Lee,  General. 

April  10,  1865. 

With  this  ends  the  story  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  A  glorious  story  it  is,  too.  They  had  fought 
a  good  fight,  and  had  kept  the  faith  with  the  country 
and  the  principles  which  they  had  espoused.     They 


244  THE  CIVIL  WAR.  18G5. 

did  their  duty  nobly,  and  liave  left  to  the  keeping  of 
the  land  for  which  they  battled  the  record  of  their 
sublime  devotion  and  incomparable  courage.  Taking 
leave  of  their  leader,  in  whom  they  ever  had  a  stead- 
fast faith,  whether  in  victory  or  defeat,  they  turned 
their  weary  steps  to  their  desolated  homes,  where  fond 
hearts  were  waiting  to  welcome  the  battle-scarred 
soldier;  and  with  the  same  grand  courage  with  which 
they  had  brightened  the  pages  of  human  history  they 
went  to  work  to  rehabilitate  the  wasted  farm  and  the 
deserted  workshop. 

The  surrender  of  the  other  divisions  of  the  Confed- 
erates necessarily  followed  that  of  General  Lee  in 
rapid  succession.  On  the  IStli  of  April  General  Jo- 
seph E.  Johnston  surrendered  at  Durham,  N.  C;  Gen- 
eral Dick  Taylor  to  General  Canby  at  Citronelle,  Ala., 
May  4;  and  General  Kirby  Smith  to  the  same  general 
at  Baton  Kouge,  La.,  on  the  26th.  Thus  ended  the  long 
and  arduous  struggle  which  the  South  made  for  the 
rights  which  she  had  under  the  Constitution,  and,  in 
this  struggle  those  who  wore  the  gray  and  stepped  to 
the  inspiring  strains  of  "  Dixie  "  under  the  banner  of 
the  Southern  cross  decked  with  its  stars,  have  made 
their  uniform  a  symbol  of  the  sublimest  courage  of 
the  soldier  and  the  truest  devotion  of  the  patriot. 


APPENDIX. 


THE   SOUTH    JUSTIFIED. 


The  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  in  its  several  aspects, 
with  centralization  for  its  great  purpose,  was  a  main  cause  of 
trouble  and  separation. 

The  words  of  the  Constitution  were :  "  No  person  held  to  serv- 
ice or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into 
another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein, 
be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered 
up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be 
due." 

Of  this  clause  Judge  Story,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  Prigg  vs.  Pennsylvania,  said:  "It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  it  constituted  a  fundamental  article,  without  the 
adoption  of  which  the  Union  could  not  have  been  formed."  (16 
Peters.)  It  must,  therefore,  of  course  have  been  a  condition  of 
the  Union's  continuance. 

We  will  see  how  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  was  ob- 
served and  treated  by  the  abolition  or  free  States.  Between  the 
years  1810  and  1850,  the  losses  to  the  South  in  fugitive  slaves 
amounted  to  $22,000,000,  an  annual  loss  for  that  period  of  $550,- 
000.  The  ratio  of  loss  increased  as  the  slave  population  in- 
creased. To  what  it  amounted  at  the  date  of  secession  I  am  un- 
able to  state  just  now  ;  the  curious,  however,  may  readily  ascer- 
tain. The  census  for  1810  gave  a  slave  population  of  1,191,400 ; 
that  of  1820,  1,538,100;  that  of  18.30,  2,009,030;  that  of  1840,  2,- 
480,500;  that  of  1850,  »,204,300;  that  of  1860,  3,979,700.    Esti- 

(245) 


246  .  APPENDIX. 

mating  the  average  value  at  $300,  the  South  lost  by  emancipa- 
tion $1,193,910,000,  exclusive  of  at  least  $6,500,000  in  fugitives 
between  the  years  1850  and  1861. 

The  claim  of  the  party  of  coercion  that  morality  justified  the 
infliction  of  that  loss  on  the  South  is  met  and  fiilly  answered  by 
their  head,  President  Lincoln,  who  said  in  the  Hampton  Roads 
conference  that "  the  people  of  the  North  were  as  responsible 
for  slavery  as  the  people  of  the  South."  History  shows  the 
North  to  be  equally  responsible  at  the  least,  and  I  undertake  to 
say  more  so,  and  I  feel  sure  that  I  am  able  to  prove  it  should 
it  ever  become  necessary. 

About  the  1st  of  May,  1850,  the  New  York  State  Vigilance* 
Antislavery  Committee,  of  which  the  famous  Gerritt  Smith  was 
chairman,  held  its  anniversary  meeting  in  public  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  I  give  a  single  passage  from  its  official  report: 
"The  committee  have,  within  the  year  since  the  1st  of  May, 
1849,  assisted  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  fugitives  (for  that,  you 
know,  is  our  business)  in  escaping  from  servitude."  I  cite  this 
as  one  of  many  specimens  of  the  respect  the  antislavery  people 
had  for  constitutional  guarantees  and  protection. 

In  speaking  upon  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  just  cited,  Mr. 
Seward,  of  New  York,  said  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
on  March  11,1850:  "The  law  of  nations  disavows  such  com- 
pacts ;  the  law  of  nature,  written  on  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  freemen,  repudiates  them.  I  know  that  there  are  laws  of  va- 
rious sorts  which  regulate  the  conduct  of  men  ;  there  are  consti- 
tutions and  statutes,  codes  mercantile  and  codes  civil ;  but  when 
we  are  leginlating  for  States,  especially  when  we  are  founding 
States,  all  these  laws  must  be  brought  to  the  standard  of  the  law 
of  God  ;  must  be  tried  by  that  standard,  and  must  stand  or  fall 
by  it.  To  conclude  on  this  point,  we  are  not  slave-holders ;  we 
cannot,  in  our  judgment,  be  true  Christians  or  real  freemen  if  we 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  247 

impose  on  others  a  chain  tliat  we  defy  all  human  power  to  fasten 
on  ourselves."  He  also  said :  "  Wherein  do  the  strength  and 
security  of  slavery  lie  ?  You  answer  that  they  lie  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  the  Constitutions  and  laws  of 
the  slave-holding  States.  Not  at  all.  It  is  in  the  erroneous 
sentiments  of  the  American  people.  Constitutions  and  laws  can 
no  more  rise  above  the  virtue  of  the  people  than  the  limpid 
stream  can  rise  above  its  spring.  Inculcate  the  love  of  freedom, 
and  the  equal  rights  of  man  under  the  paternal  roof;  see  to  it 
that  they  are  taught  in  the  schools  and  in  the  churches ;  reform 
your  code;  extend  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  fugitive  who  lays 
his  weary  limbs  at  your  door,  and  defend  him  as  you  would  your 
paternal  god  ;  correct  your  error  that  slavery  has  any  constitu- 
tional guaranty  which  may  not  be  released  and  ought  not  to  be 
relinquished ;  say  to  slavery,  when  it  shows  its  bond  and  de- 
mands the  pound  of  flesh,  that  if  it  draws  one  drop  of  blood,  its 
life  shall  pay  the  forfeit;  inculcate  that  free  States  can  maintain 
the  rights  of  hospitality  and  humanity  ;  that  executive  authority 
can  forbear  to  favor  slavery."  Thus  it  was  urged  and  attempted 
to  be  taught  that  the  Constitution  was  the  embodiment  of 
crime,  and  oaths  to  support  it  of  no  effect  or  binding  force ;  that 
we  must  regard  such  obligations  as  baubles,  as  things  to  deceive, 
as  snares  to  entrap.  We  were  asked  to  make  such  doctrines  a 
part  of  our  education  and  a  controlling  feature  of  our  religion  ; 
to  make  perjury  a  pillar  of  Church  and  State,  and  the  crime  of 
larceny  a  commendable  virtue.    The  seeds  so  sown  bore  fruit. 

Article  IV.,  Section  2,  of  the  United  States  Constitution  or- 
dains :  "A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or 
other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another 
State,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the  State 
from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed  to  the  State 
having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime." 


243  APPENDIX. 

In  two  instances,  Kent  and  Fairfleld,  governors  of  Maine, 
refused  to  comply  with  this  provision  on  requisitions  by  the  gov- 
ernor of  Georgia  for  negro  thieves.  Governor  Seward  (after- 
ward Senator),  of  New  York,  made  a  similar  refusal  to  the  same 
State,  saying  it  was  not  against  the  laws  of  New  York  to  steal  r. 
negro.  He  made  a  similar  refusal  to  Virginia.  These  governorj 
were  sworn  to  supjjort  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  certainly  understood  its  plain  command. 

In  1793,  while  Washington  was  President,  an  act  was  passed 
to  carry  out  the  provision  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  It 
was  adopted  unanimously  in  the  Senate,  and  nearly  so  in  the 
House.  The  Federal  and  State  Courts  held  it  to  be  constitution- 
al, and  yet  these  governors  refused  to  execute  it. 

On  January  7,  1861,  more  than  two  weeks  after  South  Car- 
olina had  passed  her  ordinance  of  secession,  Mr.  Toombs,  of 
Georgia,  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  said:  "The  Supreme  Court 
has  decided  that  by  the  Constitution  we  have  a  right  to  go  to 
the  Territories  and  be  protected  with  our  property.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln says  he  does  not  care  what  the  Supreme  Court  decides,  he 
will  turn  us  out  anyhow.  He  says  this  in  his  debate  witli  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Douglas) ;  I  have  it  before 
me.  He  says  he  would  vote  against  the  decision  of  the  Su])reine 
Court."  This  charge  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  was  never  denied  by 
himself  or  friends. 

Instances  of  disregard  of  the  Constitution  by  those  sworn  to 
ODserve  it  might  be  readily  multiplied  ;  but  I  only  want  to  make 
prominent  the  principles  moving  the  South  to  its  course. 

Having  seen  our  rights  under  and  1))'  the  Constitution,  I  will 
turn  attention  to  that  couree.  The  Southern  States  claimed  tliey 
were  sovereign,  having  all  powei-s  except  such  as  were  specially 
delegated  to  Congress.  They  demanded  that  property  in  slaves 
should  be  entitled  to  the  same  protection  from  the  Government 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  249 

of  the  United  States,  in  all  its  departments  everywhere,  which 
the  Constitution  confers  upon  it ;  the  power  to  extend  to  any- 
other  property,  provided  nothing  shall  be  construed  to  limit  or 
restrain  the  right  now  belonging  to  every  State  to  prohibit, 
abolish,  or  establish  and  protect  slavery  within  its  limits ;  that 
persons  committing  crimes  against  slave  property  in  one  State 
and  fleeing  to  another  shall  be  delivered  up  in  the  same  manner 
as  persons  committing  crimes  against  other  property,  and  that 
the  laws  of  the  State  from  which  such  persons  fled  shall  be  the 
test  of  criminality ;  that  Congress  should  pass  efficient  laws  for 
the  punishment  of  all  persons,  in  any  of  the  States,  who  shall 
in  any  manner  aid  and  abet  invasion  or  insurrection  in  any  oth- 
er State,  or  commit  any  other  act  against  the  laws  of  nations 
tending  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  people  or  government 
of  any  other  State ;  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  should 
have  an  equal  right  to  emigrate  to  and  settle  in  the  present  or 
any  future  acquired  Territories  with  whatever  property  they 
might  possess,  and  be  protected  in  its  peaceable  enjoyment  until 
such  territory  may  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  or  without 
slavery,  as  slie  may  determine,  on  an  equality  with  all  existing 
States, asthe  Supreme  Court  had  decided, and  as  the  "originally 
small  party  "  now  decides  in  principle,  when  in  its  June  plat- 
form of  1888  it  declares:  "The  government  by  Congress  of  the 
Territories  is  based  upon  necessity,  only  to  the  end  that  they  be- 
come States  in  the  Union  ;  therefore,  whenever  the  conditions 
of  population,  material  resources,  public  intelligence,  and  moral- 
ity are  such  as  to  insure  a  stable  government  therein,  the  people 
of  such  territories  should  be  permitted  to  form  for  themselves 
Constitutions  on  State  government,  and  be  admitted  into  the 
Union."  Time  and  circumstances  work  wonderful  changes. 
What  howls  were  raised  by  that  party  over  such  doctrines  a  few 
decades  back !  and  now  with  what  deafening  cheers  it  greets 


250  APPENDIX. 

them !  How  many  of  you,  my  friends,  ever  hoped  to  live  to  see 
the  day  when  the  party  of  coercion  would  not  only  indorse,  but 
actually  adoi)t,  a  chief  article  of  your  faith  in  the  right  and  act 
of  secession  ?  I  answer,  not  one ;  nevertheless,  you  have  seen 
it.    Wonder  of  wonders  ! 

All  our  demands  were  reasonable  and  conformable  to  the  Con- 
stitution ;  still  they  were  stubbornly  refused  by  those  high  in 
authority,  who  had  sworn-  to  support  the  Constitution,  and  who 
were  followed  in  their  course  by  the  people  they  represented. 

After  all  this,  and  after  South  Carolina  had  seceded,  the  other 
States  of  the  South  were  so  anxious  to  continue  tlie  Union  under 
the  Constitution,  and  to  stand  by  and  perpetuate  its  principles, 
that  a  peace  congress  was  called.  Virginia,  taking  the  lead,  called 
that  congress,  which  met  in  AVashington  City  in  February,  18G1. 
Judge  Chase,  a  teacher  of  the  antislavery  movement,  afterward 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Secretary  of  State,  and  later  Chief-justice  of  the 
United  States,  was  a  delegate  to  that  congress.  As  such  dele- 
gate he,  on  March  6th,  made  a  speech  in  which  he  said :  "  The 
result  of  the  national  canvass  which  recently  terminated  in  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  has  been  spoken  of  by  some  as  the  effect 
of  sudden  impulse  or  of  some  irregular  excitement  of  the  popu- 
lar mind,  and  it  has  been  somewhat  confidently  asserted  that, 
upon  reflection  and  consideration,  the  hastily  formed  opinions 
which  brought  about  the  election  will  be  changed.  It  has  been 
said,  also,  that  subordinate  questions  of  local  and  temporary  char- 
acter have  augmented  the  Republican  vote  and  secured  a  ma- 
jority which  could  not  have  been  obtained  upon  the  national 
questions  involved  in  the  respective  platforms  of  the  parties 
which  divide  the  country.  I  cannot  take  this  view  of  the  presi- 
dential election.  I  believe,  and  the  belief  amounts  to  absolute 
conviction,  that  the  election  must  be  regarded  as  a  triumph  of 
principles  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  free  States. 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  251 

These  principles,  it  is  true,  were  originally  asserted  by  a  small 
party  only.  But  after  years  of  discussion  they  have,  by  their 
own  value,  their  own  intrinsic  soundness,  obtained  the  deliberate 
and  unalterable  sanction  of  the  people's  judgment.  Chief  among 
these  principles  is  the  restriction  of  slavery  within  State  limits, 
not  war  upon  slavery  within  those  limits,  but  fixed  opposition  to 
its  extension  beyond  them."  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  candidate 
of  the  people  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  We  have 
elected  him.  After  many  years  of  earnest  advocacy  and  severe 
trial,  we  have  achieved  the  triumph  of  that  principle.  By  a  fair 
and  unquestionable  majority  we  have  obtained  that  triumph. 
Do  you  think  we  who  represent  this  majority  will  throw  it 
away  ?  Do  you  think  the  people  would  sustain  us  if  we  under- 
took to  throw  it  away  ?  I  must  speak  to  you  plainly,  gentlemen 
of  the  South.  It  is  not  in  my  heart  to  deceive  you.  I  therefore 
tell  you  explicitly  that  if  we  of  the  North  and  West  would  con- 
sent to  throw  away  all  that  has  been  gained  in  the  recent  tri- 
umph of  our  principles,  the  people  would  not  sustain  us,  and  so 
the  consent  would  avail  you  nothing.  And  I  must  tell  you  fur- 
ther that  under  no  circumstances  will  we  consent  to  surrender 
a  principle  which  we  believe  to  be  sound  and  so  important  as 
that  of  restricting  slavery  within  State  limits." 

Here  was  a  positive  assertion  that  Lincoln  and  the  party 
which  had  elected  him  would  not  respect  the  decision  of  the 
Suprfeme  Court.  Then  if  the  Constitution  as  construed  by  that 
court,  a  tribunal  constituted  for  the  purpose,  was  to  be  so  em- 
phatically disregarded  and  ignored,  what  remedy  was  left  for  the 
South?  If  that  organic  law  by  the  terms  and  assurances  of 
which  the  States  became  parts  of  the  Union  is  repudiated,  was 
the  South  required  in  morals  or  good  faith  to  fold  its  arms  and 
quietly  submit  ?  I  answer :  No.  Mr.  Chase  proceeds :  "Aside  from 
the  territorial  question,  the  question  of  slavery  outside  of  the 


252  APPENDIX. 

slave  States,  I  know  of  but  one  serious  difficulty.  I  refer  to  the 
question  concerning  fugitives  from  service.  The  clause  in  the 
Constitution  concerning  tliis  class  of  persons  is  regarded  by  al- 
most all  men,  North  and  South,  as  a  stipulation  for  the  surren- 
der to  their  masters  of  slaves  escaping  into  free  Stiites.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  free  States,  however,  who  believe  that  slave-holding  is 
wrong,  cannot  and  will  not  aid  in  the  reclamation,  and  the  stip- 
ulation therefore  becomes  a  dead  letter.  .  .  .  You,  thinking 
slavery  right,  claim  the  fulfillment  of  the  stipulation ;  we,  think- 
ing slavery  wrong,  cannot  fulfill  the  stipulation  without  con- 
sciousness of  participating  in  wrong." 

This  leaves  no  room  to  question  the  policy  marked  out  by 
Mr.  Lincoln.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Chase,  his  chief  adviser,  dis- 
tinctly announced  that  in  two  essentials  the  Constitution  ehould 
not  be  observed  and  executed.  He  avows  tliat  the  Constitution 
shall  not  be  the  law  of  the  land,  but  that  tlie  will  of  the  party 
coming  into  power  shall  be  that  law,  a  declaration  in  words  that 
the  Constitution  is  a  dead  letter.  The  course  to  be  pursued  was 
the  usurpation  of  the  powers  and  their  absorption  in  centraliza- 
tion of  government.  It  is  admitted  that  that  party  understood 
the  Constitution  as  we  did,  but  that  for  years  it  had  been  its  set- 
tled and  fixed  determination  not  to  execute  it ;  that  while  it 
would  solemnly  swear  to  execute  it,  it  would  not  do  so ;  that  it 
had  triumphed  in  its  purpose  and  principle  of  disobedience,  and 
it  would  avail  itself  of  that  triumph,  and  subvert  and  overthrow 
the  principles  of  the  Government  and  obliterate  the  Constitution 
it  must  swear  to  maintain,  and  by  virtue  of  which  only  it  could 
take  control  and  management. 

Try  the  questions  by  the  rules  laid  down  by  Mr.  Chase  for  hi^ 
party,  and  who  are  the  reliels,  the  traitors,  the  conspirators 
against  the  Government?  The  assertion  that  the  Southern 
States  are  is  the  cap,  the  climax  of  deliberate  and  criminal  impu- 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  253 

dence  or  inexcusablfi  ignorance.  The  entire  speech  of  Mr.  Chase 
is  interesting  as  part  of  the  history  of  its  time  and  the  spirit  of 
the  party  about  to  take  control  of  the  Government.  All  South- 
erners, especially  those  of  Confederate  blood  and  extraction, 
should  read  it.  They  will  find  in  it  much  to  defend  us  against 
the  charges  of  treason,  conspiracy,  and  rebellion,  and  much  to 
shift  these  charges  to  the  shoulders  of  others.  It  proves,  as  was 
said  by  Hon.  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  on  June  9,  1841,  that  "the  abolition  agitation  is 
[was]  a  conspiracy  in  the  true  definition  of  that  offense.  It  is 
the  combination  of  many  to  break  law,  which  is  the  definition 
of  conspiracy ;  none  the  better  that  the  conspirators  are,  many 
of  them,  persons  of  fair  character  and  perhaps,pious  designs." 

The  South  was  left  without  protection  of  constitutional  guar- 
anties and  without  hope  in  the  decisions  of  the  court  of  last  re- 
sort; it  must  therefore  resort  to  its  only  remedy,  secession.  It 
was  outlawed,  the  Constitution  denounced  as  "a  dead  letter." 
The  evils  likely  and  almost  certain  to  flow  from  the  teachings  of 
Judge  Chase's  "  originally  small  party  "  were  seen  and  dreaded 
by  the  best  and  most  patriotic  minds  of  the  North.  Daniel 
Webster,  who  had  no  superior  as  a  statesman,  who  was  regarded 
the  best  constitutional  lawyer  in  the  land,  and  whose  patriotism 
embraced  the  whole  country,  was  alarmed,  and  gave  the  best 
efforts  of  his  to  check  and  paralyze  the  lawlessness  of  the  "orig- 
inally small  party."  In  a  reception  speech  made  in  New  York 
on  the  15tli  of  March,  1837,  he  said :  "We  have  slavery  already 
amongst  us.  The  Constitution  found  it  in  the  Union,  recognized 
it,  and  gave  it  solemn  guaranties.  To  the  full  extent  of  these 
guaranties  are  we  bound  in  honor,  in  justice,  and  by  the  Constitu- 
tion. All  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  Constitution  in  favor 
of  the  slave-holding  States  which  are  already  in  the  Union  ought 
to  be  fulfilled,  and,  so  far  as  depends  on  me,  shall  be  fulfilled  in 


254  APPENDIX. 

the  fullness  of  their  spirit  and  to  the  exactness  of  their  letter. 
Slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the  States,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  Con- 
gress. It  is  a  concern  of  the  States  themselves ;  they  have  never 
submitted  it  to  Congress,  and  Congress  has  no  rightful  power 
over  it.  I  shall  concur,  therefore,  in  no  act,  no  measure,  no  men- 
ace, no  indication  of  purpose  which  shall  interfere  or  threaten  to 
interfere  with  the  exclusive  authority  of  the  States  ovgr  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery  as  it  exists  within  their  respective  limits.  All 
this  appears  to  me  to  be  a  matter  of  plain  and  imperative  duty." 
At  Buffalo,  on  the  22d  of  May,  1851,  he  said :  "  There  is  but  one 
question  in  this  country  now,  or  if  there  be  others  they  are  but 
secondary  or  so  subordinate  that  they  are  all  absorbed  in  that 
great  and  leading  question,  and  that  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  this :  Can  we  preserve  the  Union  of  States,  not  by  coercion, 
not  by  military  power,  not  by  angry  controversies,  but  can  we 
of  this  generation,  you  and  I,  your  friends  and  my  friends,  can 
we  so  preserve  the  Union  of  these  States  by  such  admission  of 
the  powers  of  the  Constitution  as  shall  give  content  and  sat- 
isfaction to  all  who  live  under  it,  and  draw  us  together,  not  by 
military  i)Ower,  but  by  the  silken  cords  of  mutual,  fraternal,  pa- 
triotic affection?  That  is  tlie  question,  and  no  other.  Gentle- 
men, I  believe  in  party  distinctions;  I  am  a  party  man.  There 
are  questions  belonging  to  i)arty  in  which  I  take  an  interest, 
and  there  are  opinions  entertained  by  others  which  I  repudiate, 
but  what  of  all  that  ?  If  a  house  be  divided  against  itself,  it  will 
iiill  and  crush  everybody  in  it.  We  must  see  that  we  maintain 
the  government  which  ia  over  us ;  we  must  see  that  we  uphold 
the  Constitution,  and  we  must  do  bo  without  regard  to  party. 
The  question,  fellow-citizens  (and  I  put  it  to  you  now  as  the  real 
question),  the  question  is  whether  you  and  the  rest  of  the  people 
of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  and  of  all  the  States,  will  so  ad- 
here to  the  Constitution,  will  so  enact  and  maintain  laws  to  pre- 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED,  255 

serve  that  instrument,  that  you  will  not  only  remain  in  the  Union 
yourselves,  but  permit  your  brethren  to  remain  in  it  ?  That  is 
tlie  question.  Will  you  concur  in  measures  necessary  to  main- 
tain the  Union,  or  will  you  oppose  such  measures?  That  is  the 
whole  point  of  the  case."  After  giving  a  history  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Union,  Mr.  Webster  proceeds :  "  Now  I  am  aware  that 
all  these  things  are  well  known,  that  they  have  been  stated  a 
thousand  times,  but  in  these  days  of  perpetual  discontent  and 
misrepresentation  to  state  things  a  thousand  times  is  not  enough, 
for  there  are  persons  whose  consciences,  it  would  seem,  lead  them 
to  consider  it  their  duty  to  deny,  misrepresent,  and  cover  up 
truths.  Now  these  are  the  words  of  the  Constitution,  fellow- 
citizens,  which  I  have  taken  the  pains  to  transcribe  therefrom, 
so  that  he  who  runs  may  read :  *  No  person  held  to  service  or  la- 
bor in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another, 
shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  dis- 
charged from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due.' 
Is  there  any  mistake  about  that?  Is  there  any  forty  shilling 
attorney  here  to  make  a  question  of  it?  No,  I  will  not  disgrace 
my  profession  by  supposing  such  a  thing.  There  is  not,  in  or  out 
of  an  attorney's  office,  in  the  country  of  Erie  or  elsewhere,  one 
who  could  raise  a  doubt,  or  a  particle  of  doubt,  about  the  mean- 
ing of  this  provision  of  the  Constitution.  He  may  act  as  wit- 
nesses do  sometimes  on  the  stand.  He  may  wriggle  and  twist, 
and  say  he  cannot  tell  or  he  cannot  remember.  I  have  seen  many 
such  efforts  in  my  time  on  the  part  of  witnesses  to  falsify  and 
deny  the  truth.  But  there  is  no  man  who  can  read  these  words 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  say  they  are  not 
clear  and  imperative.  '  No  person,'  the  Constitution  says, '  held 
to  labor  or  service  in  one  State  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  ot  any  law  or  regulation 


256  APPENDIX. 

therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor 
may  be  due.'  Why,  you  may  be  told  by  forty  conventions  in 
Massachusetts,  in  Ohio,  in  New  York,  or  elsewhere,  that  if  a  col- 
ored man  comes  here  he  comes  as  a  freeman.  That  is  non  sequitur. 
It  is  not  so.  If  he  comes  as  a  fugitive  from  labor,  the  Constitu- 
tion says  he  is  not  a  freeman,  and  that  he  shall  be  delivered  up 
to  those  who  are  entitled  to  his  service.  Gentlemen,  that  is  the 
Constitution.  Do  we  or  do  we  not  mean  to  conform  to  it,  and  to 
execute  that  part  of  the  Constitution  as  well  as  the  rest  of  it? 
I  believe  there  are  before  me  here  members  of  Congress.  I  sup- 
pose there  may  be  here  members  of  the  State  Legislature  or  ex- 
ecutive officers  under  the  State  government.  I  suppose  there 
may  be  judicial  magistrates  of  New  York,  executive  officers,  as- 
sessors, supervisors,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  constables  before 
me.  Allow  me  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  there  is  not,  there  cannot 
be,  any  one  of  these  officers  in  this  assemblage,  or  elsewhere,  who 
has  not,  according  to  the  form  of  the  usual  obligation,  bound 
himself  by  solemn  oath  to  support  the  Constitution.  They  have 
taken  their  oaths  on  the  holy  evangelists  of  Almighty  God,  or  by 
uplifted  hands,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  bj'  solemn  affinnation,  as 
is  the  practice  in  some  cases ;  but  among  all  of  them  there  is  not 
a  man  who  holds,  nor  is  there  any  man  who  can  hold,  any  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  United  States,  or  of  this  State,  or  of  any  other 
State,  who  does  not  bind  himself  by  the  solemn  obligation  of  an 
oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Well,  is 
he  to  tamper  with  that?  Is  he  to  palter?  Gentlemen,  our  po- 
litical duties  are  as  much  matters  of  conscience  as  any  other 
duties.  Our  sacred  domestic  duties,  our  most  endearing  social 
relations  are  not  more  the  subjects  for  conscientious  consideration 
and  conscientious  discharge  than  the  duties  we  enter  upon  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.    The  bonds  of  political 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  257 

brotherhood,  which  hold  us  together  from  Maine  to  Georgia, 
rest  upon  the  same  principles  of  obligation  as  those  of  social  and 
domestic  life."  At  Capon  Springs,  in  Virginia,  June  28,  1851, 
Mr.  Webster  said :  "  The  leading  sentiment  in  the  toast  from  the 
Chair  is  the  Union  of  the  States.  The  Union  of  the  States ! 
What  mind  can  comprehend  the  consequences  of  that  Union, 
past,  present,  and  to  come  ?  The  Union  of  these  States  is  the  all- 
absorbing  topic  of  the  day.  On  it  all  men  speak,  write,  think, 
and  dilate  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  thereof. 
And  yet,  gentlemen,  I  fear  its  importance  has  been  but  insuffi- 
ciently appreciated."  "  How  absurd  it  is  to  suppose  that  when 
different  parties  enter  into  a  compact  forcertiiin  purposes,  either 
can  disregard  any  one  provision  and  expect,  nevertheless,  the 
other  to  observe  the  rest !  I  intend,  for  one,  to  regard  and  main- 
tain and  carry  out  to  the  fullest  extent  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  which  I  have  sworn  to  support  in  all  its  parts  and 
provisions.  It  is  written  in  the  Constitution :  *  No  person  held 
to  service  or  labor  in  one  State  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be 
delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor 
may  be  due.'  That  is  as  nmch  a  part  of  the  Constitution  as  any 
other,  and  equally  binding  and  obligatory  as  any  other  on  all 
men,  pubhc  or  private.  And  who  denies  this?  None  but  the 
abolitionists  of  the  North.  And  pray,  what  is  it  they  will  not 
deny  ?  They  have  but  the  one  idea,  and  it  would  seem  that  these 
fanatics  at  the  North  and  the  secessionists  at  the  South  are  put- 
ting their  heads  together  to  defeat  the  good  designs  of  honest  and 
patriotic  men.  They  act  to  the  same  end  and  the  same  object, 
and  the  Constitution  has  to  take  the  fire  from  both  sides.  I  have 
not  hesitated  to  say,  and  I  repeat,  that  if  the  Northern  States 
refuse  willfully  and  deliberately  to  carrj'  into  effect  that  part  of 
17 


258  APPENDIX. 

the  Constitution  which  respects  the  restoration  of  fugitive  slaves, 
and  Congress  provides  no  remedy,  the  South  would  no  longer 
be  bound  to  observe  the  compact.  A  bargain  cannot  be  broken 
on  one  side,  and  still  bind  the  other  side.  I  say  to  you,  gentle- 
men, as  I  said  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  and  in  tlie  city  of  Bos- 
ton, and  as  I  may  say  again  in  that  city  or  elsewhere  in  the 
North,  that  you  of  the  South  have  as  much  right  to  receive 
your  fugitive  slaves  as  the  North  has  to  any  of  its  rights  and 
privileges  of  navigation  and  commerce.  I  am  as  ready  to  fight 
and  to  fall  for  the  constitutional  rights  of  Virginia  as  I  am  for 
those  of  Massachusetts." 

Now,  if  Daniel  Webster,  whose  greatness  of  mind  and  nobility 
of  soul  are  better  and  more  impressively  and  significantly  ex- 
pressed by  the  isolated  name, "  Daniel  Webster,"  than  they  would 
be  by  the  use  of  any  or  all  the  adjectives  of  our  language  defin- 
ing those  virtues,  and  whose  patriotism  was  as  broad  as  the  land, 
who  loved  the  Union  for  its  constitutional  ties  and  guaranties, 
and  who  hated  slavery  in  every  form,  and  was  willing  to  use  all 
lawful  means  for  its  abolition — if  he,  with  his  universally  known 
character  and  convictions,  was  ready  to  fight  and  to  fall  for  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  South,  where  was  the  wrong,  or  even 
the  slightest  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  man  who  had 
been  reared  in  the  education  that  the  institutions  of  the  South 
were  sound  in  law  and  in  morals? 

He  told  us  we  had  the  constitutional  right  to  the  property ; 
that  if  the  North  disregarded  the  compact  in  any  one  particular, 
we  were  released  from  all  obligations  to  observe  the  rest. 

Trying  the  principles  of  the  "  originally  small  party  "  of  Mr. 
Chase,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  Mr.  Seward  by  the  plain  and  incontro- 
vertible rules  of  constitutional  law  as  laid  down  by  Daniel  Web- 
ster, we  find  they  can  only  exi^t  in  the  palpable  and  gross  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution  as  it  then  was. 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  259 

Mr.  Webster's  argument  is  so  full,  clear,  and  exhaustive  that 
I  will  not  be  guilty  of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  add  to  or  eluci- 
date it.  I  commend  it  to  the  attention  and  perusal  of  all  South- 
ern men  and  women.  Its  teachings  should  be  transferred  to  our 
school-books  to  supersede  and  paralyze  the  Mse  and  poisonous 
manufacture  of  history  that  has  found  its  way  into  so  many  of 
the  books  that  have  been  introduced  into  the  schools  of  the  South, 
with  the  purpose  to  mislead  and  disease  the  minds  of  our  chil- 
dren as  to  the  purpose,  policy,  and  good  feith  of  our  separation 
from  the  government  of  that  "  originally  small  party  "  so  much 
condemned,  if  not  despised,  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  to  which  he  ad- 
ministered such  rebukes  as  to  induce  us  to  believe  he  could  and 
would  keep  it  in  check  and  perhaps  obliterate  it. 

If  Daniel  Webster  could  have  been  spared  to  the  Union,  there 
would  not,  in  my  opinion,  have  arisen  cause  for  separation.  His 
death,  in  October,  1852,  unbridled  the  fanaticism  of  that  "  origi- 
nally small  party,"  and  brought  it  into  power  eight  years  later, 
when  it  proposed  to  conduct  the  government  on  its  peculiar  sen- 
timents of  morality,  regardless  of  the  constitutional  limitations 
and  restrictions  which  had  been  upheld  and  enforced  by  the 
Supreme  Court  for  more  than  seventy-five  years. 

It  was  "  the  higher  law  party  "  acting  without  warrant  of  au- 
thority and  in  violation  of  that  compact  of  which  Mr.  Webster 
said  one  party  could  not  disregard  any  one  provision  and  expect 
the  other  to  observe  the  rest.  That  great  man  loved  law,  system, 
order;  had  great  respect  for  the  ability,  patriotism,  and  integrity 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  would  certainly, 
I  think,  have  acquiesced  in  its  decision  made  at  the  Decem- 
ber term,  1856,  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  exclude  slavery 
from  the  Territories.  His  course  through  life  warrants  the  con- 
clusion that  he  would  have  urged  it  as  a  settlement  of  that  agi- 
tation. 


2G0  APPENDIX. 

Our  affairs  having  reached  the  crisis  indicated,  the  work  of  se- 
cession began.  The  question  is :  Did  we  have  that  right  which 
we  exercised  in  the  hoi^e  that  war  would  not  follow  ?  We  pro- 
posed to  quit  in  peace. 

The  first  authority  I  rely  on  in  support  of  the  right  is  a  speech 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  (the  head  and  leader  of  coercion),  made  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  January  12,  1848.  He  said :  "Any 
people,  anywhere,  being  inclined  and  having  the  power,  have 
the  right  to  rise  up  and  shake  off  the  existing  government  and 
form  a  new  one  that  suits  them  better.  This  is  a  most  valuable, 
a  sacred  right,  a  right  which  we  hope  and  believe  is  to  liberate 
the  world.  Nor  is  it  confined  to  cases  in  which  the  whole  peo- 
ple of  an  existing  government  may  choose  to  exercise  it.  Any 
portion  of  such  people  that  can,  may  revolutionize  and  make 
their  own  so  much  of  the  territory  as  they  inhabit.  !More  than 
this,  a  majority  of  any  portion  of  such  people  may  revolutionize 
putting  down  a  minority,  intermingled  with  or  near  them,  who 
may  oppose  their  movements.  Such  minority  was  precisely  the 
case  of  the  tories  of  our  own  Revolution.  It  is  a  quality  of  rev- 
olutions not  to  go  by  old  lines  or  old  laws,  but  to  break  up  both 
and  make  new  ones."  There  is  no  room  for  enlargement,  expan- 
sion, or  extension  of  this  view  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  right  of  rev- 
olution in  any  form  it  may  take. 

Mr.  Rawls,  of  Pennsylvania,  an  eminent  jurist,  who  had  been 
United  States  District  Attorney  under  President  Washington, 
and  had  been  offered  by  him  the  attorney-generalship  of  the 
United  States,  and  who  was  a  firm  supporter  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  elder  Adams,  wrote  in  1825  :  "  Having  thus  endeav- 
ored to  delineate  the  general  features  of  this  peculiar  and  inval- 
uable form  of  government,  we  shall  conclude  by  adverting  to  the 
principles  of  its  cohesion,  and  to  the  provisions  it  contains  for  its 
own  duration  and  extension.    The  subject  cannot,  perhaps,  be 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  261 

better  introduced  than  by  presenting  in  its  own  words  an  em- 
phatical  clause  in  the  Constitution :  '  Tlie  United  States  shall 
guaranty  to  every  State  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment, shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion,  and  on  ap- 
plication of  the  Legislature,  or  the  executive  when  the  Legislature 
cannot  be  convened,  against  domestic  violence.'  The  Union  is 
an  association  of  the  people  of  republics  ;  its  preservation  is  cal- 
culated to  depend  on  the  preservation  of  these  republics.  The 
principle  of  representation,  although  certainly  the  wisest  and 
best,  is  not  essential  to  the  being  of  a  republic,  but  to  continue  a 
member  of  the  Union  it  must  be  presumed,  and  therefore  the 
guaranty  must  be  so  construed.  It  depends  on  the  State  itself  to 
retain  or  abolish  the  principle  of  representation,  because  it  de- 
pends on  itself  whether  it  will  continue  a  member  of  the  Union. 
To  deny  this  right  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  principles  on 
which  our  public  systems  are  founded,  which  is  that  the  people 
have  in  all  cases  to  determine  how  they  will  be  governed.  This 
right  must  be  considered  as  an  ingredient  in  the  original  compo- 
sition of  the  general  Government  which,  though  not  expressed, 
was  understood,  and  the  doctrine  heretofore  presented  to  the 
reader  in  regard  to  the  indefeasible  nature  of  personal  allegiance 
i^  so  far  qualified  in  respect  to  allegiance  to  the  United  States. 
It  was  observed  that  it  was  competent  for  a  State  to  make  a 
compact  with  its  citizens ;  tliat  the  reciprocal  obligations  of  pro- 
tection and  allegiance  might  cease  on  certain  events ;  and  it  was 
further  observed  that  allegiance  would  necessarily  cease  on  the 
dissolution  of  the  society  to  which  it  was  due."  "  The  secession 
of  a  State  from  the  Union  depends  on  the  will  of  the  people  of 
such  State.  The  people  alone,  as  we  have  seen,  hold  the  power 
to  alter  their  Constitution.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  incorporated  into  the  Constitutions 
of  the  several  States  h>j  the  ad  of  the  people.    The  State  Legisla- 


262  ArrENDix. 

tures  have  only  to  perform  certain  organical  operations  in  respect 
to  it.  To  withdraw  from  the  Union  comes  not  within  the  gen- 
eral scope  of  their  delegated  authority.  There  must  he  an  ex- 
pressed provision  to  that  effect  inserted  in  the  State  Constitutions. 
This  is  not  at  present  the  case  with  any  of  them,  and  it  would,  per- 
haps, be  impolitic  to  confide  it  to  them.  A  matter  so  moment- 
ous ought  not  to  be  intrusted  to  those  who  would  have  it  in  their 
power  to  exercise  it  lightly  and  precipitately,  upon  sudden  dis- 
satisfaction or  causeless  jealousy,  perhaps  against  the  interests 
and  wishes  of  a  majority  of  their  constituents.  In  the  present 
Constitution  there  is  no  specification  of  number  after  the  first 
formation.  It  was  foreseen  that  there  would  be  a  natural  tend- 
ency to  increase  the  number  of  States  with  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation then  anticipated  and  now  so  fully  verified.  It  was  also 
known,  though  it  was  not  avowed,  that  a  State  migid  withdraw  itself." 
This  comes  from  one  who  was  an  ofiicer  under  the  first  admin- 
istration and  familiar  with  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
by  its  framers. 

Senator  Wade,  of  Ohio  (afterward  Vice-president  of  the  United 
States),  in  the  United  States  Senate,  on  February  23, 1855,  said: 
"  Who  is  to  be  judge,  in  the  last  resort,  of  the  violation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  the  enactment  of  a  law? 
Who  is  the  final  arbiter,  the  general  Government,  or  the  States 
in  their  sovereignty  ?  Why,  sir,  to  yield  that  point  is  to  yield  up 
all  the  rights  of  the  States  to  protect  their  own  citizens  and  to 
consolidate  this  Government  into  a  miserable  despotism  !  What- 
ever you  may  think  of  it,  I  tell  you,  sir,  that,  if  this  bill  pass,  col- 
lision will  arise  between  the  State  and  Federal  jurisdictions — 
conflicts  more  dangerous  than  all  the  wordy  wars  which  are  got 
up  in  Congress,  conflicts  in  which  the  States  will  oever  yield ;  for 
the  more  you  undertake  to  load  them  with  acts  like  this  the. 
greater  will  be  their  resistance."    "  I  said  there  were  States  in 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  263 

this  Union  whose  highest  tribunals  had  adjudged  that  bill  to  be 
unconstitutional,  and  I  was  one  of  those  who  believed  it  uncon- 
stitutional, and  that,  under  the  old  resolutions  of  1798  and  1799,  a 
State  must  not  only  be  the  judge  of  that,  but  of  the  remedy  in 
such  case."  There  was  no  mincing  there,  no  stringing  together 
of  words  for  sound's  sake;  but  a  solid  shot,  straight  to  the  mark, 
from  antislavery  quarters. 

In  his  address  in  1839,  before  the  Historical  Society  of  New- 
York,  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  said :  "  With  these  qualifications 
we  may  admit  the  same  right  as  vested  in  the  people  of  every 
State  in  the  Union,  with  reference  to  the  general  Government, 
which  was  exercised  by  the  people  of  the  united  colonies  with 
reference  to  the  supreme  head  of  the  British  Empire,  of  which 
they  formed  a  part,  and  under  these  limitations  have  the  people 
of  each  State  in  the  Union  a  right  to  secede  from  the  Confederate 
Union  itself.  But  the  indissoluble  Union  between  the  several 
States  of  this  Confederate  nation  is,  after  all,  not  in  the  right,  but 
in  the  heart  If  the  day  should  ever  come  (may  heaven  avert  it !) 
when  the  affections  of  the  people  of  these  States  shall  be  alien- 
ated from  each  other ;  when  the  paternal  spirit  shall  give  way 
to  cold  indifference,  or  collision  of  interest  shall  fester  into 
hatred,  the  bonds  of  political  asseveration  will  not  long  hold  to 
other  parties  no  longer  attached  by  the  magnetism  of  conciliated 
interest  and  kindly  sympathies,  and  far  better  will  it  be  for  the 
people  of  these  disunited  States  to  part  in  friendship  than  to  be 
held  together  by  constraint;  then  will  be  time  for  reverting  to 
the  precedents  which  occurred  at  the  formation  and  adoption  of 
tlie  Constitution,  to  form  a  more  jierfect  Union  by  dissolving  that 
which  could  no  longer  bind,  and  to  leave  the  separated  parties 
to  be  reunited  by  the  law  of  political  gravitation  to  the  center." 

Acting  upon  this  principle,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
the  home  of  Mr.  Adams,  in  1844,  resolved  "  that  the  project  of 


264  APPENDIX. 

the  annexation  of  Texas,  unless  arrested  on  the  threshold,  may 
drive  these  States  into  a  dissolution  of  the  Union."  On  the  same 
subject,  on  February  22,  1845,  it  resolved,  "...  and  as  the 
powers  of  legislation  granted  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  Congress  do  not  embrace  the  case  of  the  admission  of 
a  foreign  State  or  foreign  Territory  by  legislation  into  the  Union, 
such  act  of  admission  would  have  no  binding  force  whatever  on 
the  people  of  Massacliusetts." 

Here  we  have  the  unequivocal  assertion  of  the  right  to  secede. 
In  1814,  on  the  call  of  Massachusetts,  several  of  the  New  En- 
gland States  met  in  convention  in  Hartford,  and  pronmlgated  the 
following :  "  It  is  as  much  the  duty  of  State  authorities  to  watch 
over  the  rights  reserved  as  of  the  United  States  to  exercise  the 
l)owers  which  are  delegated."  "  In  cases  of  deliberate,  danger- 
ous, and  palpable  infractions  of  the  Constitution  affecting  the 
sovereignty  of  a  State,  and  liberties  of  the  people,  it  is  not  only 
the  right,  but  the  duty  of  such  State  to  interpose  its  authority  for 
their  protection  in  the  manner  best  calculated  to  secure  that  end. 
When  emergencies  occur,  which  are  either  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  judicial  tribunals,  or  too  pressing  to  admit  of  the  delay  inci- 
dent to  their  forms,  States  which  have  no  common  umpire  must 
be  their  own  judges  and  execute  their  own  decisions." 

We  of  the  South  were  watching  oA-er  not  only  our  reserved 
right«,  hut  also  those  gnaranto^d  to  us  as  well.  We  had  the  de- 
liberate, dangerous,  and  palpable  infraction  of  the  Constitution. 
Emergencies  had  reached  beyond  the  cure  of  judicial  tribunals, 
for  the  "  originally  small  party  "  positively  reftised  to  recognize 
and  obey  the  courts,  and  the  time  had  come  when  we  might,  as 
the  Plartford  convention  said  we  had  the  right  to  do,  become 
our  own  judges  and  execute  onr  own  decisions.  The  principles 
set  forth  by  that  convention  were  signed  by  a  number  of  the 
leading  men  of  that  day,  among  them  Nathan  Dane,  founder 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  265 

of  the  professorship  of  law  in  the  Cambridge  University,  and  -who 
was  author  of  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  tlie  North- 
western territory  in  1787.  Ho,  like  Rawle,  understood  what  was 
meant  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  Ho  lived  in  their 
day  and  with  them,  and  we  may  regard  his  utterances  as  an  au- 
thoritative construction  of  the  instrument. 

On  November  9,  1860,  Horace  Greeley  wrote  :  "  The  telegraph 
informs  us  that  most  of  the  cotton  States  are  meditating  a  with- 
drawal from  the  Union  because  of  Lincoln's  election.  Very 
well.  They  have  a  right  to  meditate,  and  meditation  is  a  profita- 
ble employment  of  leisure.  We  have  a  chronic,  invincible  die- 
belief  in  disunion  as  a  remedy  for  either  Northern  or  Southern 
grievances.  We  cannot  see  any  necessary  connection  between 
the  alleged  disease  and  this  ultra  heroic  remedy.  Still  we  say 
if  any  one  meditates  disunion,  let  him  do  so  unmolested.  That 
was  a  base  and  hypocritical  row  that  was  raised  at  Southern  dic- 
tation about  the  ears  of  John  Quincy  Adams  because  he  present- 
ed a  petition  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The  petitioner 
had  a  right  to  make  the  request ;  it  was  the  member's  duty  to 
present  it.  And  now,  if  the  cotton  States  consider  the  value  of 
the  Union  debatable,  we  maintain  their  perfect  right  to  discuss 
it.  Nay,  we  hold  with  Jefferson  to  the  inalienable  right  of  com- 
munities to  alter  or  abolish  forms  of  government  that  have  be- 
come oppressive  or  injurious ;  and  if  the  cotton  States  decide  that 
they  can  do  better  out  of  the  Union  than  in  it,  we  insist  on  let- 
ting them  go  in  peace.  The  right  to  secede  may  be  a  revolution- 
ary one;  but  it  exists,  nevertheless,  and  we  do  not  see  how  one 
party  has  a  right  to  do  what  anothcrparty  has  a  right  to  prevent. 
We  must  ever  resist  the  asserted  right  of  any  State  to  remain  in 
the  Union  and  nulhfy  or  defy  the  laws  thereof.  To  withdraw 
from  the  Union  is  quite  another  matter ;  and  Avhenever  a  con- 
siderable section  of  our  Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out 


266  APPENDIX. 

we  shall  resist  all  coercive  measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.  We 
hope  never  to  live  in  a  Republic  whereof  once  section  is  pinned 
to  the  residue  by  bayonets,  .  .  .  Let  the  people  reflect,  de- 
liberate, then  vote,  and  let  the  act  of  secession  be  the  echo  of  an 
unmistakable  popular  flat.  A  judgment  thus  rendered,  a  de- 
mand for  separation  so  backed,  would  either  be  acquiesced  in 
without  the  efi"usion  of  blood,  or  tiiose  who  rushed  upon  the 
carnage  to  defy  and  defeat  it  would  place  themselves  clearly  in 
the  wrong." 

Judge  Story,  in  his  "  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,"  says : 
"Though  obvious  deductions  which  may  be  and,  indeed,  have 
been  drawn  from  considering  the  Constitution  as  a  compact  be- 
tween the  States  are  that  it  ^operates  as  a  mere  treaty  or  con- 
vention between  them,  and  has  an  obligatory  force  upon  each 
State  no  longer  than  it  suits  its  pleasure  or  its  consent  continues; 
that  each  State  has  a  right  to  judge  for  itself  in  relation  to  the 
nature,  extent,  and  obligations  of  the  instrument,  without  being 
at  all  bound  by  the  interpretation  of  the  Federal  Government, 
or  by  that  of  any  other  State,  and  that  each  retains  the  power  to 
withdraw  from  the  confederacy  and  dissolve  the  connection, 
when  such  shall  be  its  choice,  and  may  suspend  the  operations 
of  the  Federal  Grovernment,  and  nullify  its  acts  witliin  its  own 
territorial  limits,  whenever  in  its  own  opinion  the  exigency  of 
the  ca.se  may  require — these  conclusions  may  not  always  be 
avowed,  but  they  flow  naturally  from  the  doctrine  which  we 
have  under  consideration." 

Judge  Tucker,  professor  of  law  in  the  Universit)'^  of  William 
and  Mary,  in  Virginia,  and  one  of  the  earliest  commentators  on 
the  Constitution,  in  1803  wrote :  "  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  then  being  tliat  instrument  by  whicli  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment had  been  created,  its  powers  defined  and  limited,  and  the 
duties  and  functions  of  its  several  departments  prescribed,  the 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  267 

government  thus  established  may  be  pronounced  to  be  a  confed- 
erate republic,  composed  of  several  independent  and  sovereign 
democratic  States  united  for  their  common  defense  and  security 
against  foreign  nations  and  for  the  purpose  of  harmony  and  mu- 
tual intercourse  between  each  other,  each  State  retaining  an 
entire  liberty  of  exercising  as  it  thinks  proper  of  those  parts 
of  its  sovereignty  which  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Constitution 
or  act  of  union  as  parts  that  ought  to  be  exercised  in  common." 
"  In  becoming  a  member  of  the  federal  alliance,  established  be- 
tween the  American  States  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  she 
expressly  retained  her  sovereignty  and  independence.  The  con- 
straints put  upon  the  exercise  of  that  sovereignty  by  those  Ar- 
ticles did  not  destroy  its  existence."  "  The  Federal  Government 
then  appears  to  be  the  organ  through  which  the  united  repub- 
lics communicate  with  foreign  nations  and  with  each  other. 
Their  submission  to  its  operation  is  voluntary.  Its  councils,  its 
engagements,  its  authority  are  theirs,  modified  and  united.  Its 
authority  is  an  emanation  from  theirs,  not  a  flame  in  which  they 
have  been  consumed,  nor  a  vortex  in  which  they  are  swallowed 
up.  Each  is  still  a  perfect  State,  still  sovereign,  still  independ- 
ent, and  still  capable,  should  occasion  require,  to  resume  the 
exercise  of  its  functions  as  such  in  the  most  unlimited  extent." 

In  speaking  of  our  separation  from  Great  Britain,  Chancellor 
Kent  says:  "The  principle  of  self-preservation  and  the  right  of 
every  community  to  freedom  and  happiness  gave  sanction  to 
this  separation.  "When  the  government  established  over  any 
people  becomes  incompetent  to  fulfill  its  purposes  or  destructive 
to  the  essential  ends  for  which  it  was  instituted,  it  is  the  right 
of  the  people,  founded  on  the  law  of  nature  and  the  reason  of 
mankind  and  supported  by  the  soundest  authority  and  some 
illustrious  precedents,  to  throw  off  such  government  and  provide 
new  guards  for  their  future  safety." 


268  APPENDIX. 

AVitli  a  single  exception,  I  have  confined  my  citations  of  au- 
thority to  the  Northern  antislavery  States,  tlie  home  of  the 
"originally  small  jjarty."  No  Southern  man,  no  slave-holder 
ever  more  clearly  announced  and  advocated  the  sovereignty  of 
the  States,  or  that  the  Constitution  was  a  compact  between  the 
States,  or  that  one  party  could  not  violate  it  in  one  or  more 
particulars  and  require  or  expect  the  other  to  observe  the  resi- 
due. No  stronger  argument  can  be  made  that  the  Constitution 
is  a  whole,  and  to  be  binding  on  one  side  must  be  obeyed  as  a 
Avhole  by  the  other.  The  Constitution  was  the  chain  that  linked 
the  States  in  union.    Tlie  breaking  of  one  link  dissolved  the  tie. 

The  authorities  all  tend  to  the  one  inevitable  conclusion  that 
the  Union  exists  alone  by  the  Constitution  and  its  observance  in 
every  particular.  Being  the  terms  of  union,  one  party  may  not 
be  permitted  to  violate  it  in  any  particular  and  insist  on  its  ob- 
servance by  the  other  as  to  any  of  its  terms,  whatever  they  may 
be.  The  right  to  its  enforcement  as  a  whole,  or  its  rejection  as 
such,  is  inalienable  and  indestructible. 

In  the  investigation  of  the  question  my  trouble  has  not  been 
in  finding  authority  of  the  highest  and  clearest  and  most  con- 
vincing character.  It  has  been  in  avoiding  its  multiplicity.  I 
have  relied  on  the  testimony  of  those  not  at  all  in  sympathy 
with  the  institution  of  slavery,  passing  by  the  opinions  and  ut- 
terances of  Southern  statesmen  and  jurists. 

Under  the  condition  of  things  as  slightly,  and  but  slightly, 
portrayed  in  this  address,  the  Southern  States  began  the  work  of 
secession  and  organizing  a  new  Government.  They  hoped,  as 
they  rightly  might,  that  they  would  not  be  interfered  with ;  that 
there  would  be  no  war.  In  this  they  were  mistaken.  The  "  orig- 
inally small  party,"  which  had  then  come  into  power,  ordered 
the  relief  squadron  with  eleven  ships,  carrying  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  guns  and  twenty-four  hundred  men,  from  New  York 


THE  SOUTH  JUSTIFIED.  269 

and  Norfolk  to  re-enforce  Fort  Sumter— peacably  if  permitted, 
forcibly  if  they  must.  This  was  of  itself  an  act  of  war.  After 
several  attempts  and  failures  on  the  i^art  of  General  Beauregard, 
to  have  some  understanding  with  Major  Anderson,  and  seeing 
that  unless  he  took  action  his  forces  would  be  exposed  in  front 
and  rear,  and  perhaps  destroyed  for  usefulness,  he  fired  the  first 
gun  of  the  war.  This  he  did  in  self-defense.  He  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  forces  of  a  Government  foreign  to  that  of  the  United 
States.  The  harbor  of  Charleston  belonged  to  the  Confederate 
States,  or  rather  to  the  independent  Government  of  South  Car- 
olina. Being  then  the  property  of  another  Government,  there 
was  no  authority  resting  with  or  in  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington to  interfere  with  it.  It  was  that  Government's  duty  to 
withdraw  its  troops,  at  least  when  demand  was  made  by  General 
Beauregard.  Failing  to  do  so,  it  became  his  imperative  duty  to 
take  the  necessary  steps  to  remove  them,  and  to  resort  to  such 
force,  mild  or  violent,  as  would  bring  about  that  removal.  It 
became  necessary  to  strike  the  first  blow.  That  blow  Vv'as  in 
self-defense.  The  overt  act  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  jus- 
tified it.  Neither  nation  nor  individual  is  required  to  wait  until 
stricken  after  the  assailant  has  assumed  the  attitude  of  ofiense 
with  the  present  ability  to  strike. 

The  squadron  was  ordered  to  Fort  Sumter  to  attack.  The 
order  will  bear  no  other  interpretation.  There  can  be  no  author- 
ity to  order  the  re-enforcement  of  a  foreign  port  in  times  of  peace 
and  with  hostile  demonstrations.  That  was  an  act  of  war,  was 
the  first  assault,  the  inauguration  of  the  war  by  the  United  States. 
If  ever  there  was  a  case  of  pure,  unmitigated,  unmixed,  and  pos- 
itive justification  and  self-defense,  the  law  and  the  testimony 
makes  that  case  for  the  Confederate  Government  and  the  Con- 
federate soldier. 

We  yielded  to  the  logic  of  force.    The  right  still  lives.    A  new 


270  APPENDIX. 

Government  has  been  built  upon  the  downfall  of  the  old  ones. 
We  have  promised  our  allegiance  to  it.  We  will  keep  the  faith 
plighted  at  all  hazards  and  to  the  last  extremity,  so  long  as  the 
Constitution  is  respected.  The  element  of  evils  and  discord  has 
been  removed.  Old  things  have  passed  away,  and  there  will  be, 
we  venture  to  hope,  no  other  sectional  jealousy.  Our  devotion 
to  the  Constitution  at  all  times ;  our  conduct  as  soldiers  for  four 
years,  battling  from  field  to  field,  from  time  to  time,  holding  in 
check  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  soldiers  with  six  hun- 
dred thousand,  gives  assurance  that  we  will  always  be  worthy 
citizens  of  a  constitutional  Union,  and  may  be  confidently  relied 
on  in  times  of  need. 

I  know  that  in  many  things  I  have  repeated  an  often  told 
story;  but,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Webster,  "to  state  things  a 
thousand  times  is  not  enough  in  these  days  of  misrepresenta- 
tion, for  there  are  persons  whose  consciences  it  would  seem  lead 
them  to  consider  it  their  duty  to  deny,  misrepresent,  and  cover 
up  truths." 

In  this  effort  my  purpose  and  desire  have  been  to  awake  the 
Southern  man  and  woman  to  the  importance  of  having  their 
children  study  our  lost  cause  from  constitutional,  legal,  and  his- 
torical stand-points,  that  they  be  not  misled.  It  is  time  we  were 
seeking  after  their  school-books  ourselves,  and  not  trusting  too 
much  to  others. 

Our  cause  was  worth  all  we  sacrificed  to  it.  Though  lost,  it 
deserves  vindication.  Its  defense  by  our  arms  at  least  checked 
centralization.  Understanding  the  principles  of  self-government, 
for  which  our  comrades  battled  and  died,  our  children  will  stand 
at  their  graves  with  love,  admiration,  and  approval  of  their  course, 
and  offer  up  the  prayer :  "  God  bless  and  perpetuate  their  mem- 
ories ! "  Hon.  Peter  Turney, 

Chtcf-jnsticc  of  the  State  of  Tennessee. 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY. 


The  army  is  generally  regarded  as  a  great  "school  of  vice." 
As  a  theory  I  have  nothing  to  write  anent  it.  I  only  state  facta 
as  I  glean  them  from  history  and  experience.  I  left  my  charge, 
Winchester,  Tenn.,  July  9,  1861,  and  went  directly  to  "  Camp 
Sneed,"  Knoxville,  East  Tennessee,  and  continued  in  the  South- 
ern army  until  the  surrender,  and  was  paroled  in  Macon,  Ga., 
in  May,  1865,  and  reached  my  home  July  13,  1865. 

The  centurions  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Bible  have  much  said 
to  their  credit,  nothing  in  censure.  The  first  of  whom  we  read 
was  noted  for  his  great  feith,  humility,  and  charity.  The  next 
"  glorified  God  "  at  the  cross,  and  testified  :  "  Truly  this  was  the 
Son  of  God."  Cornelius  was  "a  devout  man  "  who  "  feared  God 
with  all  his  house,"  "  gave  much  alms,"  "  and  prayed  to  God  al- 
ways." Julius  was  kind  and  courteous  in  all  his  treatment  to- 
ward Paul  during  the  months  that  he  was  in  the  custody  of  the 
centurion. 

"  Tapsters  and  town  p)eople  "  Oliver  Cromwell  found  would 
not  defeat  the  Royalists,  but  when  he  rallied  "  men  of  religion  " 
and  went  singing  or  shouting  into  the  conflict,  the  "  Lord  of 
hosts "  he  thought  gave  them  the  victory,  and  he  recognized 
God's  hand  in  all  results. 

"  Godly  soldiers  bore  a  conspicuous  part "  in  the  great  work  of 
the  Wesleys ;  and  Captain  Thomas  Webb,  of  the  British  army,  a 
lay  preacher,  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of  John  Wes- 
ley in  Bristol,  England,  and  there  testified  to  others  of  God's  sav- 
ing power ;  and  in  America  he  was  eminently  useful,  preaching 

(271) 


272  APPENDIX. 

in  his  military  dress,  and  was  a  pioneer  in  planting  Methodism 
on  this  continent. 

"  Colonel  Gardiner  found  the  army  an  inviting  field  for  Chris- 
tian work,"  and  he  was  remarkably  successful  in  winning  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  from  the  vices  of  camp  life.  His  life  was  great 
in  deeds  of  piety,  his  death  was  grand  and  triumphant. 

Headley  Vicars  was  eminent  as  a  soldier  of  the  cross. 

General  Joseph  Warren,  who  fell  at  Bunker  Hill,  spent  two 
hours  in  prayer  the  night  before  his  gallant  death. 

General  Andrew  Jackson,  when  told  by  an  officer  that  the  ar- 
ticles of  war  forbid  "  an  unusual  noise  in  camp,"  and  that  some 
of  the  soldiers  had  been  singing  and  praying  in  their  quarters, 
replied :  "  God  forbid  that  prayer  should  be  an  unusual  noise  in 
my  camp  1 " 

We  all  know  how  fully  and  frequently  Jefferson  Davis,  Robert 
E.  Lee,  and  Stonewall  Jackson  appealed  to  God  for  help,  and  to 
the  people  to  look  to  him  for  aid  during  the  time  of  the  great 
conflict. 

Much  more  of  vice  than  virtue  was  manifest  in  the  army  of 
Tennessee  during  the  first  and  second  years  of  the  war.  Not  a 
a  few  chaplains  were  so  much  discouraged  with  the  army  as  a 
field  of  acceptability  and  usefulness  that  they  resigned  their 
commissions  and  left  the  camp.  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  W.  W. 
Bennett's  "  Great  Revival  in  the  Southern  Armies"  for  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  and  much  else  that  I  furnish  in  this  sketch : 

In  the  first  months  ol  the  strife  the  call  of  the  war-trumpet  was  heard 
above  all  other  sounds.  The  young  men  rushed  to  tlie  camps  of  instruc- 
tion, and,  freed  from  the  restraints  of  home  and  the  influence  of  pious 
relatives,  thousands  of  them  gave  way  to  the  seductive  influences  of  sin. 

Legions  of  devils  infest  a  camp.  Vice  grows  in  it  like  plants  in  a  hot- 
bed, and  yields  abundant  and  bitter  fruits.  "  In  the  Ohl  Testament  it  is 
said, '  One  sinner  destroycth  much  good.'  If  so,  Avhat  destruction  of  good 
must  be  elTected  bj'  a  lai'ge  body  of  ungodly  soldiers  in  close  and  constant 
contact,  wlicre  one  may,  witliout  extravagance,  consider  them  as  inocu- 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  273 

lating  each  other  daily  with  the  new  infection  of  every  debaucli  through 
whicli  they  pass! " 

Before  the  "  soldiers  of  Christ "  addressed  themselves  in  earnest  to  tlie 
work,  gambling,  profanity,  drunkenness,  and  other  kindred  vices  pre- 
vailed to  au  alarming  extent. 

The  temptation  to  recklessness  is  strong  among  all  soldiers.  Religion 
is  supposed  to  be  well  suited  to  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  life,  but  not  to 
rougli,  uncertain  army  life.  Tliis  reckless  spirit,  we  must  admit,  greatly 
l)revaileil,  and  was  much  encouraged  by  many  who  had  been  long  in  the 
military  profession,  and  brought  with  them  into  our  armies  the  vicious 
habits  of  many  years  of  sin.  Among  the  soldiei-s  the  gi*eat,  overshadow- 
ing evils  were  lewdness,  profanity,  and  drunkenness;  among  the  peojile 
at  home,  the  "  greed  of  gain  "  was  the  "  accursed  thing." 

It  was  a  melancholy  fact  that  many  men  entered  the  army  avowed  ene- 
mies  of  all  intoxicating  drinks,  who,  alas!  very  soon  fell  victims  to  the 
demon  of  the  bottle.  With  many  there  seemed  to  be  a  conviction  that  the 
fatigue  and  exposure  of  their  new  mode  of  life  coulil  not  be  endured  with- 
out the  artificial  stimulant  of  ardent  spirits.  This  was  a  great  and  fatal 
error.  The  soldier  does  not  need,  even  in  the  worst  climates,  and  in  the 
liardest  service,  his  rations  of  rnm. 

The  cause  of  Christ  was  hindered,  and  that  of  Satan  promoted,  in  the 
Southern  armies  by  the  influence  and  example  of  wicked  and. licentious 
olliccrs  and  men. 

One  who  had  observed  the  course  of  intemperance  in  the  army  wrote: 
"  The  prevalence  of  vice — drunkenness  and  profanity— in  our  camps,  is 
attributable  to  the  offlcei-s  themselves.  By  far  the  larger  number  of  the  of- 
ficers of  our  Southern  army  are  both  profane  and  hard  drinkers,  where 
they  are  not  drunkards." 

Another  says:  "There  is  an  appalling  amount  of  drunkenness  in  our 
army.  More  among  the  officers  than  the  men.  This  evil  is  now  on  the 
increase." 

A  surgeon,  writing  from  the  army,  says:  "  I  was  greatly  astonished  to 
find  soldiers  in  Virginia  whom  I  had  known  in  Georgia  as  somber,  dis- 
creet citizens— members  of  the  different  Churches,  some  deacons  and  of- 
ficial members,  even  preachers— in  the  daily  and  constant  habit  of  drink- 
ing whisky  for  their  health." 

An  officer  who  had  visited  many  portions  of  the  army  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  with  the  exception  of  the  reverse  at  Fort  Donelson,  we  were 
defeated  not  by  the  Federals,  but  by  whisky. 

18 


274:  APPENDIX. 

A  distinguished  general  is  said  to  have  remarked  that  "  if  the  South  is 
overthrown,  the  epitaph  sliould  be:  '  Died  of  Whisky.'  " 

This  was  one  of  the  giant  evils.  Hundreds  all  over  the  land,  moved  by 
an  unholy  desire  for  gain,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  ardent  spirits. 
It  was  estimated  that  in  one  county  in  Virginia,  and  that  not  one  of  the 
largest,  the  distillers  in  one  year  consumed  thirty -one  thousand  bushels 
of  grain,  enough  to  furnish  six  hundred  families  with  food  lor  the  same 
period.  While  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  court  of  that  county 
to  procure  grain  to  feed  the  families  of  soldiers  could  not  purchase  enough 
for  that  purpose,  the  smoke  of  fifty  distilleries  darkened  the  air;  mean- 
time, the  cries  of  the  poor  mothers  and  helpless  children  went  up  m  vain 
for  bread. 

The  same  was  the  case  in  other  States.  In  one  district  in  South  Caro- 
lina one  hundred  and  fifty  distilleries  were  in  operation.  A  gentleman  in 
North  Cax'olina  said  he  could  count  from  one  hill-top  the  smoke  of  four- 
teen distilleries.  One  of  the  Richmond  papers  declared  that  a  single  dis- 
tiller ill  that  city  made  at  one  pei-iod  of  the  war  a  jn'ofit  of  $4,000  a  day. 

In  Augusta  County,  Va.,  it  was  estimated  that  fifty  thousand  bushels  of 
grain  were  consumed  monthly  by  the  distilleries  in  operation  there. 

A  writer  on  this  subject  estimated  that  in  the  second  year  of  the  war 
eixteen  hundred  barrels,  or  sixty-four  thousand  gallons,  of  ardent  spirits 
of  the  worst  sort  were  daily  manufactured  in  tlie  Confederate  States. 

The  temptation  to  drink  in  the  ai-my  was  very  strong:  men  were  cast 
down  in  spirit,  away  from  home,  wife,  children,  mothers  and  sisters— all 
that  makes  life  dear.  Many  that  ventured  to  drink  at  all  under  such  cir- 
cumstances found  it  hard  to  avoid  excesses. 

But  this  evil  was  not  confined  to  the  soldiers.  In  the  councils  of  the 
general  Government  and  State  Governments  its  baleful  infiuence  was 
felt. 

The  best  and  ablest  officers  of  the  ai-niy  sought  by  example  and  by  pre- 
cept to  suppress  this  vice,  and  the  following  noble  language  from  Gener- 
al Bragg  is  a  sample  of  the  general  orders  issued  from  time  to  time  against 
the  evils  which  infested  our  armies: 

"  Commanders  of  all  grades  are  earnestly  called  upon  to  suppress  drunk- 
enness by  every  means  in  their  power.  It  is  the  cause  of  nearly  every 
evil  from  which  we  suffer;  the  largest  poition  of  our  sickness  and  mor- 
tality results  from  it;  our  guard-houses  are  filled  by  it;  oflicers  are  con- 
stantly called  from  their  duties  to  form  court-martials  in  consequence  of 
it;  inefficiency  in  our  troops,  and  consequent  danger  to  our  cause,  is  the 


EELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  275 

inevitable  ivsiilt.  No  one  is  benefited  but  the  luiserable  wretch  who  is 
too  cowanlly  to  tlefeiut  a  country  he  is  willing  to  sell  by  destroying  those 
noble  faculties  he  has  never  possessed.  Gallaul  soldiers  should  scorn  to 
yield  to  such  temptations,  and  intelligent  and  honorable  oflicers  should 
set  them  an  examp''^-  They  should  be  encouraged  to  semi  to  their  fami- 
lies at  home  the  pay  they  receive  for  their  services,  instead  of  wasting  it 
m  their  own  destruction,  and  at  the  risk  of  the  holy  cause  in  which  they 
are  engaged.  Small  as  the  amount  is,  it  will  cause  many  a  dear  one  to 
I'lsc  up  and  call  them  blessed. 

"'Give  strong  drink  unto  him  that  is  ready  to  perish,  an<l  wine  to  those 
thatbe  of  heavy  hearts; '  but  as  for  us,  the  glorious  cause  in  whicli  wearc 
engaged  should  furnish  all  the  excitement  and  enthusiasm  necessary  for 
our  success." 

AV'hen  anient  spirits  were  oTeved  to  our  great  warrior  Jackson,  in 
his  last  illness,  as  a  medicine,  he  exclaimed:  "■  Give  mo  jnire  water  and 
milk."  And  among  the  sokliers  many  followed  the  example  of  the  great 
Icailer. 

There  was  mvich  of  preaching  and  prayer-meetinp:  in  our  army 
around  Knoxville  in  the  summer  of  18G1;  loss,  of  course,  dur- 
ingthe  winter  of  1861-2  at  Cumberland  Gap;  but  far  more  in  the 
army  al^out  Tupelo,  iliss.,  and  Bean's  Station  and  Tazewell,  East 
Tennessee,  in  the  sirring  and  summer  of  1862.  Then,  after  our 
forced  march  acros^^astern  Kentucky  to  Richmond  and  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.,  in  the  early  autumn,  while  resting  and  recruiting  in  the 
beautiful  lilue-grass  country,  avc  had  for  some  weeks  our  regular 
camp  services  in  the  midst  of  the  handsome  new  tents  capt- 
ured from  the  Federal  troops.  During  all  these  fifteen  months 
I  had  seen  no  signs  of  a  revival  ia  our  army. 

Late  in  November  and  early  in  DeceAibcr,  1862,  Cliaplains 
Wexler,  of  the  Twentj'^-ninth  North  Carolink;  Allen  Tribble,  of 
the  Fourth  Tennessee;  J.  G.  Bolton,  of  the  Eleventh  Tennessee ; 
Rev.  Captain  Brady,  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Georgia;  and  myself 
conducted  a  protracted  meeting  beginning  at  Normandy  and 
ending  at  Manchester,  Tenn.    There  were  some  happy  public 


276  APPENDIX. 

professions  of  faith  and  a  number  of  penitents,  the  first  I  had 
witnessed  during  tlie  war  among  the  sqldiers. 

After  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  or  Stone's  Kiver,  our  army 
remained  in  camp  for  five  months  near  Shelbyville,  Tenn.  Dis- 
tinguislied  ministers  of  different  Churclies  came  to  tlie  help  of 
the  cliaplains.  Among  those  I  remember  were  Dr.  Teasdale, 
Missionary  Baptist;  Dr.  Pease,  Episcopal;  and  Dr.  J.  B.  McFerrin, 
Methodist.  Dr.  Bunting,  Presbyterian  chaplain  of  Terry's  Texas 
Bangers,  was  also  with  us.  Chaplain  Crouch,  of  Armstrong's 
Brigade,  was  killed  in  a  skirmish  at  Thompson's  Station,  Tenn., 
March  5  or  6. 

The  Chaplains'  Association  was  organized  at  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Shelbyville  February  18,  1862— Rev.  Dr.  Bryson, 
Chairman,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Bowde,  Secretary.  There  were  ten 
chaplains  present.  The  destitution  of  regiments  of  chaj)lains, 
the  word  of  God,  tracts,  etc.,  was  discussed.  Dr.  (now  Bishop) 
Quintard  was  recommended  as  agent  for  Polk's  Corps  to  look  after 
more  preachers  and  religious  reading  for  the  soldiers.  Chaplain 
Bennett  and  I  were  appointed  on  the  24th  of  March  to  wait  upon 
Lieutenant-general  Polk  and  request  that  the  inspection  of  arms 
should  be  dispensed  with  on  Sunday.  Our  bishop-general  re- 
ceived us  with  marked  courtesy,  and  assured  us  that  there  should 
be  no  interference  with  our  hours  for  religious  service. 

On  May  7  Dr.  McFerrin  preached  the  funeral  of  the  Rev.  S.  S. 
Moody,  and  a  revival  was  reported  at  the  chaplains'  meeting  in 
Ector's  Texas  Brigade — seventeen  conversions  to  date.  Chap- 
lains Morris  and  Finney  organized  a  Soldiers'  Christian  Asso- 
ciation of  forty  or  fifty  members  in  that  brigade.  April  5 1  found 
Colonel  Camp,  of  the  Fourteenth  Texas,  reading  his  Bible.  The 
flag  of  his  regiment  bore  the  inscription :  "  In  God  We  Trust." 

On  May  10  we  organized  a  Soldiers'  Christian  Association 
of  ninety-nine  members  for  the  Thirty-seventh  Georgia  Regi- 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHEllN  AEMY.  277 

merit,  and  began  a  protracted  meeting  for  the  brigade.  Captains 
Wilson  and  Carter,  and  Rev.  S.  S.  Taylor,  a  worthy  minister  of 
the  Primitive  Baptist  Church,  and  a  true  private  soldier,  ren- 
dered me  valuable  assistance  during  the  three  weeks  the  meet- 
ing continued. 

At  our  chaplains'  meeting  on  May  12  Chaplains  C.  S.  Hearn, 
of  tlie  Fifth  Tennessee,  and  W.  T.  Bennett,  of  the  Twelfth  Ten- 
nessee, rej)orted  eighty-five  conversions  in  Vaughn's  and  forty- 
five  in  Strahl's  Brigade.  Eev.  H.  D.  Hogan,  a  private  soldier, 
held  a  fine  revival  in  his  regiment,  the  Twenty-fourth  Tennes- 
see. Since  the  war  he  has  been  a  presiding  elder  in  Kansas  for 
several  years. 

At  Shelby  ville,  on  ]\Iay  24,  John  P.  McFerrin,  son  of  the  Eev. 
A.  P.  McFerrin,  was  recommended  for  license  to  preach.  He 
gave  us  good  help  at  Tyner's  Station  three  months  later,  was  ter- 
ribly wounded  at  Chickamauga  in  September,  and  assisted  us  in 
another  meeting  near  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  March,  1865.  He  is  now 
pastor  of  the  First  Methodist  Church  in  Chattanooga.  Rev.  Dr. 
J.  B.  McFerrin  gave  us  invaluable  help  in  Middle  and  East  Ten- 
nessee in  1863,  in  Georgia  in  1864,  and  was  with  us  till  the  day 
of  the  surrender  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  and  preached  to  the  army 
that  day.  He  did  much  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our  soldiers 
during  the  two  active,  efficient  years  of  his  army  life. 

At  Fairfield,  on  June  2,  a  chaplains'  meeting  was  organized — 
S.  M.  Cherry,  Chairman ;  Dr.  F.  S.  Petway,  Secretary.  Present: 
Chaplains  Rush,  of  the  Third  Georgia ;  H.  B.  Moore,  of  the  Sev- 
enteenth Tennessee ;  John  A.  Ellis,  of  the  Twentieth  Tennessee ; 

^IcMurray,  of  the  Forty-fifth  Tennessee;  and  Eev.  Sji»S. 

Taylor,  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Georgia.  A  good  revival  was  con- 
ducted in  Brown's  Brigade  near  Fairfield  and  Beech  Grove  by 
Chaplains  T.  H.  Davenport,  of  the  Third  Tennessee; Chap- 
man, of  the  Thirty-second  Tennessee ;  and Harris,  of  the 


278  APPENDIX. 

Twenty-sixth  Tennessee;  assisted  by  Dr.  J.  B.  McFerrin.  We 
had  some  revival  at  a  meeting  in  Bate's  Brigade.  Rev.  Lieuten- 
ant Curry,  of  the  Ninth  Alabama,  assisted  Chaplain  Ellis  and 
myself.  We  also  had  a  splendid  experience-meeting  on  June  7. 
Dr.  McFerrin  preached  for  us  that  day. 

The  conflict  at  Hoover's  Gap  closed  our  protracted  meetings 
and  the  campaign  in  Middle  Tennessee  on  the  24th  of  June,  1863. 

In  July  and  August  the  Army  of  Tennessee  was  in  camp 
around  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Lieutenant-general  D.  H.  Hill  was 
in  command  of  our  corps.  He  preferred  to  attend  service  in 
camp  rather  than  to  "  slink  "  off  to  town,  as  he  expressed  it,  as 
was  the  custom  of  many.  He  was  a  true-blue  Presbyterian,  and 
a  Christian  indeed.  He  was  also  a  great  help  to  the  chaplains 
in  their  camp  service.  Our  army  was  now  well  furnished  with 
chaplains,  and  amply  supplied  with  missionaries  of  ability. 
Among  the  latter  were  the  Revs.  Messrs.  Caldwell  and  Wills, 
Presbyterians  ;  Revs.  R.  P.  Ransom,  AVilliam  Burr,  and  Welborn 
Mooney,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference ;  and  C.  W.  Miller^  of  the 
Kentucky  Conference. 

A  protracted  meeting  of  three  weeks  was  conducted  by  Chap- 
lain Ellis  and  myself  for  Bate's  Brigade  at  Tyner*s  Station,  near 
Chattanooga  in  August,  We  were  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Colonel 
Wiley  Reed,  of  the  First  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
Nashville,  Tenn.;  Dr.  Bryson,  Presbyterian;  Revs.  Caldwell, 
Wills,  R.  P.  Ransom,  W.  Mooney,  C.  W.  Miller,  John  B.  Steven- 
son, and  J.  P.  McFerrin.  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer,  of  New  Orleans, 
jireached  us  two  grand  sermons  at  the  close  of  these  meetings, 
and  was  announced  to  preach  on  the  night  of  August  23,  but  tlie 
long  roll  called  us  to  the  march,  and  there  was  no  more  regular 
camp  service  until  after  the  terrible  conflict  at  Chickamauga  on 
the  19th  and  20th  of  September.  A  general  revival  prevailed  in 
our  army  around  Chattanooga  in  the  summer  of  1863. 


BELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  279 

On  the  3d  and  4th  of  November,  1863,  the  chaplains  and  mis- 
sionaries of  the  army  held  a  coungil  of  two  sessions  daily  at  the 
Lookout  Hotel,  on  Lookout  Mountain.  Dr.  B.  W.  McDonald,  of 
the  Fiftieth  Alabama,  Chairman ;  Eev.  A.  D.  McVoy,  of  the  Fif- 
ty-eighth Alabama,  Secretary. 

The  Army  and  Navy  Herald  was  established  in  Macon,  Ga.,  in 
October,  1863,  and  General  Bragg  was  requested  to  designate 
some  one  to  act  as  "Distributing  Agent  of  Religious  Reading  for 
the  Army  of  Tennessee."  On  tlie  recommendation  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin  and  chaplains  and  others  in  the  army,  I  was  appointed 
to  that  work,  and  took  leave  of  the  Fourth  Tennessee  and  the 
Thirty-seventh  Georgia  Regiments,  with  which  I  had  been  so 
intimately  associated  for  more  than  two  years.  My  duties  were 
still  much  in  camp,  but  more  general  and  extensive.  I  preached 
and  labored  much  more  in  my  wider  field  than  while  chaplain 
of  the  two  regiments. 

After  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge  our  army  went  into  win- 
ter-quarters at  Dalton,  Ga.,  where  rough  log  houses  were  erected 
in  many  brigades,  and  we  witnessed  the  most  wonderful  revivals 
that  I  ever  saw  anywhere  in  my  life.  But  I  prefer  the  testimony 
of  others  rather  than  what  I  could  pen  myself,  so  I  clip  from  the 
"Great  Revival,"  by  Dr.  Bennett,  and  copy  from  "Christ  in  the 
Camp,"  by  Dr.  Jones. 

The  venerable  Dr.  J.  C.  Stiles,  about  seventy  years  of  age, 
preached  a  series  of  sermons  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  in  the  winter  of 
1863-4  that  impressed  me  as  the  finest  series  of  revival  setmons 
I  ever  heard.  He  thus  wrote  the  Cfiristian  Observer  of  a  revival 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  near  Winchester,  Va.,  in  1862: 

General  Pryov,  upon  one  hour's  notice,  marched  up  twelve  to  fifteen 
hnnclrerl  men,  who  listened  with  so  much  interest  to  a  lonjr  sermon  that  I 
was  not  sui-prised  to  hear  of  such  a  bcjrinninjr  of  religious  interest  in 
various  regiments  of  the  brigade  as  issued  in  a  half-way  promise  on  my 
part  to  fall  in  with  the  proposal  of  tlie  general  to  preach  very  early  to 


280  APPENDIX. 

his  soldiers  for  a  succession  ol  nights.  In  General  Lawton's  Brigade  tlierc 
is  a  more  decided  state  of  religious  excitement.  The  great  body  of  the 
soldiers  in  some  of  the  regiments  meet  for  prayer  and  exhortation  every 
night,  exhibit  the  ileepest  solemnity,  and  present  themselves  numerously 
for  the  prayers  of  the  chaplains  and  the  Church.  Quite  a  pleasant  num- 
ber express  hope  in  Christ.  In  all  other  portions  of  General  Early's  Di- 
vision (formerly  General  Ewell's)  a  similar  religious  sensibility  prevails. 

In  General  Trimble's  and  the  immediate  neighboring  brigades  there 
is  in  progress  at  this  hour  one  of  the  most  glorious  revivals  I  ever  wit- 
nessed. Some  days  ago  a  young  chaplain  of  the  Baptist  Church,  as  a 
representative  of  three  others  of  the  same  denomination,  took  a  long  ride 
to  solicit  my  co-operation,  stating  that  a  promising  seriousness  had  sprung 
up  within  their  diocese.  I  have  now  been  with  him  three  days  and  nights, 
preaching  and  laboring  constantly  with  the  soldiers  when  not  on  drill. 
The  audiences  and  the  interest  have  grown  to  glorious  dimensions.  It 
would  rejoice  you  over-deeply  to  glance  for  one  instant  on  our  night 
meetings  in  the  wild  woods  under  a  full  moon,  aided  by  the  light  of  our 
siile  stands.  You  would  behohl  a  mass  of  men  seated  on  the  earth  all 
around  you  (I  was  going  to  say  for  the  space  of  half  an  acre),  fringed  in 
all  its  circumference  by  a  line  of  standing  officers  and  soldiers — two  or 
three  deep — all  exhibiting  the  most  solemn  and  respectful  earnestness  that 
a  Christian  assembly  ever  displayed.  An  officer  said  to  me  last  night  on 
returning  from  worship  that  he  had  never  witncssetl  such  a  scene,  though 
a  Presbyterian  elder,  esi)ecially  sucli  an  abiding  solemnity  and  delight  in 
the  services  as  prcvenled  all  whispering  in  the  outskirts,  leaving  of  the 
congregation,  or  restless  change  of  position.  I  suppose  at  the  close  of  the 
services  we  had  some  sixty  or  seventy  men  and  officers  come  forward  and 
publicly  solicit  an  interest  in  our  prayers,  and  there  may  have  been  as 
many  more  who,  from  the  press,  could  not  reach  the  stand.  I  have  al- 
ready conversed  with  quite  a  number  who  seem  to  give  pleasant  evi- 
dence of  return  to  God,  and  all  things  seem  to  be  lapidly  developing  for 
the  best. 

The  officers,  especially  Generals  Jackson  and  Early,  have  modified 
military  rules  for  our  accommodation.  I  have  just  learned  that  General 
A.  P.  Hill's  Division  enjoys  as  rich  a  dispensation  of  God's  Spirit  as  Gen- 
eral Early's. 

P.  S.— I  have  opened  this  letter  the  second  time  to  inform  yon  of  the 
widespread  of  holy  influence.  In  General  Pickett's  Division  also  there 
are  said  to  be  revivals  of  religion. 


J 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHEEN  ARMY.  281 

Dr.  Bennett  thus  continues  the  account  of  the  revival  in  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia : 

There  was  scarcely  a  brigade  in  tlie  army  in  M'hich  the  work  of  revival 
did  not  go  forward  with  deepening  power.  Some  of  the  far  Southern 
troops  were  signally  blessed  with  great  outpourings  of  the  Spirit.  The 
Sixtieth  Georgia  Regiment  was  favored  with  the  services  of  a  most  ex- 
cellent chaplain,  Rev.  S.  S.  Smith,  under  whose  ministry  many  were 
brought  to  Christ.  In  a  letter  describing  the  revival  among  his  men,  he 
says:  "About  the  first  and  middle  of  Octoberwe  held  a  series  of  meetings 
in  camps,  during  which  time  many  souls  were  renewed  and  encourirged, 
several  were  made  h.nppy  in  the  love  of  God,  and  the  altar  was  crowded 
from  day  to  daj*  with  seekers  of  religion.  The  like  was  hardly  ever  be- 
fore witnessed  in  camps.  I  was  blessed  with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Stiles,  of  tlie  Presbyterian  Church,  to  whom  the  army  owes  a 
debt  of  gratitude  for  his  arduous  labors  and  efforts  to  save  sinners  from 
the  wrath  to  come." 

The  revival  was  not  confined  to  the  soldier  in  camp.  In  the  towns  in 
Virginia  where  military  hospitals  were  located  there  were  gracious  dis- 
plays of  the  power  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  souls.  The  convalescent 
soldiers  flocked  to  the  churches  and  crowded  the  altars  as  humble  peni- 
tents. In  Fannville,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Xelson  Head,  there  was 
a  most  interesting  revival,  and  the  greater  number  of  the  conveits  were 
soldiers  from  Georgia  and  Alabama.  In  Lynchburg,  Charlottesville,  Pe- 
tersburg, and  Richmond  the  work  was  pervasive  and  powerful.  A  writer 
in  one  of  the  Richmond  secular  papers,  speaking  of  the  work  of  grace  in 
the  hospitals  in  that  city  and  other  places,  says:  "At  Camp  "Winder,  for 
some  wc^ks,  there  has  been  in  progress  a  revival  of  religion.  Thirty-five 
soldiers  have  professed  to  be  converted.  Daily  meetings  arc  being  held, 
and  numbers  are  manifesting  a  deep  interest  in  reference  to  spiritual 
things.  A  revival  is  also  in  progi-ess  at  Chiniborazo,  and  frequently  from 
thirty  to  forty  present  themselves  as  '  inquirers.'  Many  have  professed 
to  experience  the  saving  change.  One  hundred  hn  ve  professed  conversion 
within  a  comparatively  brief  period  in  the  hospitals  in  Petersburg.  For 
more  than  a  month  a  protracted  meeting  has  been  in  progress  at  Lynch- 
burg, at  which  some  twenty  soldiers  have  made  tlie  good  profession.  We 
learn  from  the  post  chaplain  in  Farniville  that  there  is  considerable  relig- 
ious interest  among  the  hospitals  there,  and  that  eight  have  professed 
conversion.    At  other  points  the  divine  blessing  is  being  richly  bestowed 


282  APPENDIX. 

iipon  the  pious  efforts  of  chaplains  and  colporteurs.  There  can  be  no  more 
inviting  lield  for  Christian  enterprise  than  that  presented  by  the  hospi- 
tals. In  this  city  alone  over  ninety-nine  thousand  sick  and  wounded  sol- 
diers have  been  in  the  hospitals.  At  no  time  do  men  feel  more  grateful 
to  the  Giver  of  all  good,  and  more  like  becoming  pious,  than  when  recov- 
ering from  long  spells  of  sickness." 

The  revival  at  tlys  period  of  the  war  was  undoubtedh'  greater  and 
more  glorious  in  the  armj^  in  Virginia  than  in  other  portions  of  the  Con- 
federacy, but  there  were  happy  signs  of  spiritual  life  among  the  troops 
in  the  far  South  and  West.  On  Sullivan's  Island,  near  Charleston,  S.  C, 
there  was  a  blessed  work  of  grace,  which  powerfully  checked  the  ordi- 
nary vices  of  the  camp  and  brought  many  souls  into  the  fold  of  the  Gotxl 
Shepherd.  Speaking  of  his  work,  in  a  letter  of  October  i),  Kev.  E.  J.  Mey- 
nardie,  chaplain  of  Colonel  Keitt's  Ilegiment  of  South  Carolina  Volun- 
teers, says:  "On  Thursday  evening,  25th  ult.,  the  religious  interest, 
which  for  some  time  had  been  quite  apparent,  became  so  deep  and  mani- 
fest that  1  determined  to  hold  a  series  of  meetings,  during  which,  up  to 
last  night,  ninety-three  applied  for  inembersliip  In  the  various  branches 
of  the  Church,  nearly  all  of  whom  profess  conversion.  Eveiy  night  the 
church  at  which  we  worshiped  was  densely  crowded,  and  obvious  serious- 
ness pervaded  the  congregation.  To  the  invitation  to  approacli  the  altar 
for  prayer  prompt  and  anxious  responses  were  made,  and  it  was  indeed 
an  unusual  and  impressive  spectacle  to  behold  the  soldiers  of  the  country, 
ready  for  battle,  and  even  for  death  on  the  battle-field,  bowed  in  prayer 
for  that  blessing  which  the  warrior,  of  all  others,  so  much  needs.  God 
was  with  us  most  gi'aciously,  and  it  was  a  period  of  profound  interest  and 
gi'eat  joy.  The  influence  of  this  meeting  has  pervaded  the  regiment,  and 
is  still  operating  most  beneficially.  To  what  extent  it  has  improved  the 
morals  of  the  soldiers  it  is  impossible  to  estimate.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
it  has  sti-uck  at  the  very  root  of  camp  vices,  and  that  the  great  crime 
which  is  more  frequently  committed  in  the  army  than  any  other,  jirofan- 
ity,  hides  its  deformed  head." 

It  was  now  that  the  signs  of  that  wonderful  reviv.al  in  the  Army  of  the 
West  began  to  appear.  "  I  shall  never  forget,"  says  Rev.  W.  H.  Brown- 
ing, "the  look  of  astonishment  in  the  Association  of  Chaplains  in  .lanu- 
ary,  1803,  when  Brother  Winchester,  a  chnplain  and  a  minister  in  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  announced  a  conversion  in  his  com- 
mand, and  stated  that  he  believed  that  we  were  on  the  eve  of  one  of  the 
most  glorious  revivals  ever  witnessed  on  the  American  continent.    His 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  283 

countenance  glowed  with  an  unearthly  radiance,  and  while  he  spoke  '  our 
liearts  burned  within  us.'  He  urged  us  to  look  for  it,  i)i'ay  for  it,  preach 
for  it.  A  revival  in  the  army!  The  thing  was  incredible.  And  yet, 
while  we  listened  to  this  man  of  faith,  we  could  almost  heai  the  shouts  of 
redeemed  souls  that  were  being  born  to  God.  We  could  not  but  catch  the 
zeal  of  this  good  man,  and  went  away  resolved  to  work  for  a  revival." 

This  pious  man  was  not  permitted  to  participate  in  the  revival  which 
he  so  feelingly  predicted.    He  was  soon  called  to  the  spirit  world. 

A  General  Association  of  Chaplains  and  Missionaries  had  been  formed 
in  this  army  in  August  of  this  year  (18C3),  but  the  subsequent  movements 
greatly  interfered  with  its  complete  organization,  and  it  was  not  until 
November  following  that  it  was  properly  organized  and  made  leally  effi- 
cient. Rev.  Dr.  3IcI)onald,  President  of  Lebanon  University,  was  the 
President,  and  Rev.  Welborn  Mooney,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  was 
the  Secretary.  Mr.  Bi-owning  supposes  the  proceedings  of  this  associa- 
tion were  lost  in  the  subsequent  reverses  of  the  army,  and  hence  we  are 
cut  off  from  most  reliable  information  concerning  the  progress  of  the  re- 
vival. Tlie  seeds  of  truth  were  sown  by  such  faithful  laborei-s  as  Rev. 
M.  li.  De  Witt,  chaplain  of  the  Eighth  Tennessee;  Rev.  Mr.  Weaver,  of 
tiK  Twenty-eighth  Tennessee;  Rev.  Tilmon  Page,  of  the  Fifty-second 
Tennessee;  and  Rev.  W.  H.  Browning,  chaplain  of  General  Marcus 
Wright's  Brigade*.  In  other  portions  of  the  army,  under  the  preaching 
of  Rev.  S.  M.  Cherry,  Rev.  Messrs.  Petway,  Taylor,  Henderson,  and  scores 
of  other  devoted  and  self-sacriflcing  ministers,  the  revival  influence  be- 
came fleep  and  powerful. 

Rev.  L.  It.  Redding,  a  Methodist  of  the  Georgia  Conference,  began  his 
Avork  In  Gist's  Brigade,  assisted  by  the  Revs.  F.  Auld  and  J.  P.  Dc  Pass, 
lie  thus  writes  of  the  revival  near  Dalton  in  1864:  "The  gallant  Colonel 
McCuiloiigh,  of  the  Sixteenth  South  Carolina,  himself  a  godly  man,  leads 
his  men  to  the  place  of  worship.  The  Twenty-fourth  South  Carolina  falls 
into  line,  led  by  their  chaplain,  Mr.  Auld,  and  their  brave  Colonel  Capers, 
son  of  the  deceased  Bishop  Capers,  of  the  Southern  3Iethorlist  Church. 
The  benches  and  the  pulpit  have  to  be  removed  from  the  house,  and  a 
dense  multitude  of  hearers  crown  the  chapel  hill.  A  clear,  strong  voice 
(-tarts  a  familiar  old  hymn,  and  soon  thousands  of  voices  chime  in  and  the 
evening  air  is  burdened  with  a  great  song  of  praise.  The  preacher  now 
enters  the  stanrl,  and  a  thousand  voices  ara  hushed  and  a  thousand  hearts 
are  stilled  to  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord.  Perhaps  the  speaker  is  Rev. 
William  Burr,  of  Tennessee.    As  he  rises  with  his  theme,  his  silvery. 


284  APPENDIX. 

tnini pet-like  voice,  clear  as  a  bugle  note,  rings  far  ont  over  the  mass  of 
men,  and  hundreds  «ol)  with  emotion  as  he  reasons  with  them  of  right- 
eousness, of  temperance,  and  a  jntlgment  to  come.  At  the  close  of  the 
sermon  hundreds  bow  in  penitence  and  prayer,  many  are  converted, 
tattoo  beats— the  men  disperse  to  their  cabins,  not  to  sleep,  but  to  pray 
and  sing  with  their  sorrowing  comrades;  and  far  into  the  night  the  camps 
are  vocal  with  the  songs  of  Zion  and  the  rejoicing  of  newborn  souls." 

In  this  revival,  described  by  an  eye-witness,  one  hundred  and  forty 
M-ere  converted  in  two  weeks,  among  them  Colonel  Dunlap,  of  the  Forty- 
sixth  Georgia,  who  nni;ed  Avitli  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Among  the 
jnivate  soldiers  that  contributed  to  the  success  of  this  work  we  are  glad 
to  place  on  record  the  name  of  AV.  J.  Brown,  of  Company  1,  Forty-sixth 
Georgia.  His  influence  with  his  regiment  was  very  great,  and  he  threw 
It  all  in  favor  of  religion.  He  entered  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
and,  if  we  are  not  misinformed,  is  now  in  the  ministry.  Colonel  Dunlap, 
converted  in  camp,  became  an  earnest  Christian,  and  labored  with  zeal 
and  success  to  bring  his  men  to  Christ.  He  was  Ave  times  wounded,  but 
surviveil  the  wai",  and  is  now  an  honored  citizen  of  Georgia. 

General  C.  A.  Evans  was  a  Jlcthodist  and  a  class-leader  before  the 
war.  He  entered  as  a  private  in  the  Thirty-first  Georgia,  was  elected 
major  at  its  organization,  and  colonel  at  its  reorganization  six  montlis 
afterward.  lie  gieally  distinguished  himself  at  the  battles  around  Rich- 
mond, at  Manassas,  an<l  at  Frederickslnirg.  He  Avas  pi'omoted  and  put 
in  command  of  General  Gordon's  celebrated  brigade.  The  last  year  of 
the  war  he  commanded  Goi'don's  old  division.  He  was  an  earnest,  work- 
ing Christian,  and  in  the  midst  of  war  the  call  came  to  him  to  preach  the 
gospel,  but  he  wore  his  sword  until  the  fatal  day  of  Appomattox,  when, 
with  his  noble  comrades,  he  laid  down  the  weapons  of  war,  returned  to 
his  home,  and  was  soon  afterward  licensed  to  preach  and  received  into 
the  Georgia  Conference.  It  is  a  singular  incident  that  his  first  circuit 
was  called  Manassas,  and  that  his  junior  preacher  was  one  of  his  old  array 
couriers.    He  is  still  actively  engapred  in  the  ministerial  work. 

The  revival  was  hardly  less  powerful  in  those  regiments  and  brigades 
which  were  favored  with  the  regular  services  of  chaplains  than  in  those 
t'lat  had  none.  The  Second  Arkansas,  of  Liddell's  Brigade,  Cleburne's 
Division,  had  no  chaplain  at  tlie  timeof  which  Ave  write;  but  they  were 
led  by  pious  oflicers,  who  stroAjB  to  stem  the  tide  of  irreligion.  Lleuten- 
:int-coloncl  Harvey,  Captain  II.  D.  Cregg,  Lieutenant  Wilfong,  and 
others,  being  profoundly  impressed  with  the  great  need  of  religious  serv- 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  285 

ices,  formed  themselves  into  a  band  of  Christian  soldiers  and  began  a 
moral  warfare  against  the  powers  of  darkness.  They  fought  gallantly 
and  well. 

The  main  body  of  the  Confederate  army  remained  in  winter-quarters, 
and  here  began  one  of  the  most  powerful  revivals  witnessed  during  the 
war.  Fredericksburg  was  the  center  of  the  work,  and  the  minister  who 
contributed  more  to  its  success  in  the  town  than  any  other  was  the  llev. 
AVilliam  Benton  Owen,  connected  with  General  Barksdale's  Mississippi 
Brigade.  Mr.  Owen  was  earnest  in  calling  to  his  help  the  ministers  of 
all  the  different  Churches,  and,  amongothers,  he  was  favored  .at  this  time 
with  the  aid  of  Kev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Stiles,  an  eminent  and  eloquent  minister 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  latter  part  of  February  he  reacheil 
the  town,  and  entered  into  the  work  with  his  well-known  ardor.  lie  says : 
"After  my  arrival  we  held  three  meetings  a  daj- — a  morning  and  after- 
noon prayer-meeting,  and  a  preaching  service  at  night.  We  could 
scarcely  ask  of  delightful  religious  interest  more  than  we  received.  Our 
sanctuary  has  been  crowded— lower  floor  and  gallery.  Loud,  animated 
singing  always  hailed  our  approach  to  the  house  of  God;  and  a  closely 
packed  audience  of  men,  amongst  whom  you  might  have  searched  in  vain 
for  one  white  hair,  were  leaning  upon  the  voice  of  the  preacher  as  if  God 
himself  had  called  them  together  to  hear  of  life  and  death  eternal.  At 
every  call  for  the  anxious  the  entire  altar,  the  front  seats  of  the  live 
blocks  of  pews  suiTounding  the  pulpit,  and  all  the  spaces  thereabouts 
ever  so  closely  packed,  could  scarcely  accommodate  the  supplicants,  while 
daily  conversions  gave  peculiar  interest  to  the  sanctuary  services.  Of 
this  class  we  have  numbered  during  the  week  say  some  forty  or  fifty  souls. 
Officers  are  beginning  to  bow  for  prayer,  and  our  house  to  bo  too  strait 
for  worshipers.  The  audience,  the  interest,  the  converted,  the  fidelity 
of  the  Church,  and  the  expectations  of  the  ministry,  ai^e  all  steadily  and 
most  hopefully  increasing." 

Rev.  W.  C.  Dunlap,  chaplain  of  the  noble  Eighth  Georgia  Regiment, 
wrote  in  reference  to  this  work :  "  God  has  wonderfully  blessed  tis  of  late. 
We  have  had  going  on  in  our  midst  a  revival  of  religion,  with  more  or  less 
interest,  since  the  battles  in  fi-ont  of  Richmond.  Recently,  however,  it  has 
grown  greatly  in  Interest,  and  before  breaking  up  camps  near  Freder- 
icksburg, the  Lord  was  doing  a  mighty  work  in  our  midst.  I  have  held 
prayer-meetings  in  my  own  regiment  until  ten  o'clock  many  a  night,  and 
after  closing  the  brethren  would  all  ret're  to  the  woods,  frequently  ac- 
companied by  a  half -do-en  mouraers,  and  there,  with  no  other  covering 


286  APPENDIX. 

save  the  open  canopy  of  heaven,  pour  out  their  souls  in  humble  supplica- 
tion at  a  throne  of  grace,  often  remaining  until  after  midnight ;  and,  what 
is  remarliable,  I  never  have  known  the  meeting  to  close  without  the  wit- 
nessing influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  revival  at  Fredericksburg,  already  noticed,  continued  tlirough  the 
greater  part  of  the  spring  with  the  greatest  power.  Tlie  labors  of  Dr. 
Stiles  were  blessed  and  honored  in  the  salvation  of  many  souls,  but  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  for  other  scenes  of  labor.  Rev.  James  D.  Coulhng 
and  other  ministers  went  to  the  help  of  Mr.  Owen,  and,  by  their  earnest 
antl  pointed  preaching,  gieatly  promoted  the  work.  An  eye-witness, 
writing  at  this  time  from  the  scene,  says:  "  Last  evening  tlierc  were  fully 
one  hundi-ed  penitents  at  the  altar.  So  great  is  the  work,  and  so  inter- 
ested are  the  soldiers,  that  the  M.  E.  Church,  South,  has  been  found  inad- 
equate for  the  acconamodation  of  the  congregations,  and  the  Episcopal 
Church  having  been  kindly  tendered  by  its  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Randolph, 
who  is  now  here,  the  services  have  been  removed  to  that  edifice,  where 
devotions  are  held  as  often  as  three  times  a  day.  This  tvork  is  widening 
and  deepening,  and,  ere  it  closes,  it  may  permeate  the  whole  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  and  bringforth  fmits  in  the  building  up  and  strength- 
ening, in  a  pure  faith  and  a  true  Christianity,  of  the  best  army  the  world 
ever  saw." 

In  the  churches,  scarred  and  torn  by  the  balls  and  shells  from  the  Fed- 
eral batteries,  the  meetings  were  held  night  after  night  for  many  weeks, 
and  the  scenes  Avere  such  as  thrill  the  angelic  hosts  in  heaven.  In  the 
space  of  six  weeks  one  hundred  and  sixty  professed  religion  in  Barks- 
dale's  Brigade,  while  scores  of  others  were  earnestly  seeking  salvation. 

There  was  hardly  a  regiment  of  the  anny  where  the  revival  influence 
was  not  felt.  Rev.  W,  A.  ITemmingway  rejoiced  in  a  gracious  revival  in 
the  Twenty-first  South  Carolina  Regiment,  Avhich  lasted  for  months. 
Rev.  L.  S.  West,  of  the  Thirteenth  Mississippi,  conducted  a  meeting  for 
six  weeks,  in  which  many  were  happily  converted.  Rev.  S.  H.  Smith,  of 
the  sixtieth  Georgia  (Lawton's  Brigade)  collected  from  the  soldiers  and 
ofBcers  $850  to  purchase  Bibles,  Testaments,  and  hymn-books,  and  saw 
the  men  daily  anxious  "  about  the  salvation  of  their  souls."  Rev.  F.  Mil- 
ton Kennedy,  chaplain  of  the  Twenty-eighth  North  Carolina  Regiment 
of  .Jackson's  Corps,  found  "  the  men  generally  interested  in  their  spiritual 
welfare."  A  Chaplains'  Association  was  fonned,  and  weekly  meetings 
held  to  consult  upon  the  best  method  of  prosecuting  our  work  and  to  pray 
for  success.    The  chaplains  of  this  corps  issued  an  earnest  appeal  for  more 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  287 

laborers.  The  flelds  were  white  to  the  harvest,  but  the  laborers  were  few, 
while  thousauils  of  the  noblest  of  the  laud,  having  left  home  and  friends, 
were  calling  loudly  and  earnestly  lor  the  bread  of  life.  To  this  and  other 
calls  the  Churches  responded  by  sending  some  of  tlieir  ablest  ministers 
into  the  army  work,  who,  by  their  earnest  labors,  greatly  extended  the 
area  of  the  revival. 

The  signs  from  other  portions  of  the  army  in  the  West  and  South-west 
were  equally  cheering.  Along  the  lines  in  East  Tennessee  the  revival 
began  to  spread  with  great  power.  Rev.  W.  li.  Norris,  writing  from 
Loudon,  Tenn.,  says:  "During  the  month  (April)  there  has  been  a  deep 
religious  interest  among  the  soldiers  here.  We  have  liad  a  series  of  meet- 
ings for  about  two  weeks,  which,  we  hope,  resulted  in  much  good.  Tlie 
church  in  which  we  met  was  always  crowded  to  the  utmost,  and  there 
were  always  many  seekers  for  the  way  of  eternal  life." 

In  the  Fifty-ninth  Tennessee  Regiment  there  was  a  glorious  work. 
Rev.  S.  Strick,  the  chaplain,  says:  "God  is  at  work  among  our  men. 
Many  are  earnestly  seeking  the  pardon  of  their  sins.  Some  have  been  con- 
verted. Our  nightly  prayer-meetings  are  well  attended  by  anxious  list- 
eners, and  my  tent  is  crowded  daily  by  deeply  penitent  souls.  Never 
have  I  known  such  a  state  of  religious  feeling  in  our  army  as  at  this  time. 
Goil's  Spirit  is  moving  the  hearts  of  our  soldiers." 

The  great  concern  of  the  people  at  home  for  the  salvation  of  their  fel- 
low-counti-y  men  m  the  armies  soon  bore  fruit.  In  the  Army  of  Tennes- 
see there  was  a  glorioxis  work,  which  embraced  hundreds  and  thousands 
in  its  influence.  The  Rev.  F.  S.  T>otway,  chaplain  of  the  Forty-fourth 
Tennessee  Regiment,  Johnson's  Brigade,  Cleburne's  Division,  in  connec- 
tion with  other  ministers,  reported  a  wonderful  revival  in  that  celebrated 
command.  "  In  the  latter  part  of  March,"  he  says,  "  Chaplain  Taylor,  of 
the  Twenty-third  Tennessee  Regiment,  commenced  a  series  of  meetings  at 
Tullahoma,  assisted  by  Rev.  A.  W.  Smith,  of  the  Twenty-fifth,  and  myself, 
Avhich  continued  for  several  weeks,  until  temporarily  interrupted  by  mili- 
tary movements.  These  meetings  have  resulted  in  much  spiritual  benefit 
to  professed  Christians,  while  about  one  hundred  and  live  souls  have  em- 
braced Christ  as  their  Saviour.  In  General  Wood's  Brigade  a  meeting  of 
great  interest  has  for  several  weeks  been  under  the  supei-vision  of  Rev. 
F.  A.  Kimball,  chaplain  of  the  Sixteenth  Alabama,  assisted  mainly  by 
Colonel  Reed,  Chief  of  Provost  Marshal  Department  in  Hardee's  Corps, 
and  Colonel  Lowery,  of  the  Forty-flfth  and  Thirty-second  Mississippi, 
the  result  of  which  has  been  one  hundred  conversions.    In  the  same  bri- 


288  APPENDIX. 

gade  Chaplain  Otkin,  of  Colonel  Lower}''8  Regiment,  has  been  conduct- 
ing religious  services,  which,  from  the  best  infomiation  received,  has 
been  productive  of  great  good  in  restoring  many  wanderers  to  their 
former  enjoyments  anil  iuducting  about  forty-five  souls  into  the  kingdom 
of  Christ.  In  General  folk's  Brigade,  Brothers  Davis,  of  tlie  First  Arkan- 
sas, anil  Quarles,  of  the  Forty-lifth  Tennessee,  have  been  laboring  with 
commendable  zeal  and  success  in  their  resjjective  commands,  with  occa- 
sional assistance  from  Chaplains  Smith  and  Taylor,  and  as  the  fruit  of 
their  labors  God  has  converted  about  seventy  souls.  In  General  Liddell's 
Arkansas  Brigade,  which  is  destitute  of  a  chaplain,  a  meeting  was  com- 
menced five  weeks  since  by  Brother  G.  W.  Anderson,  preacher  in  charge 
of  Bedford  Circuit,  but  who,  in  consequence  of  aOliction,  was  forced  to 
retire  in  the  very  incipiency  of  an  encouraging  revival.  The  charge  of 
the  meeting  devolved  on  me,  and,  with  the  efllcient  aid  of  Brothers  Taylor 
Smiih  and  J.  B.  Stevenson,  it  has  continued  up  to  the  present  time  with- 
out any  abatement  of  interest.  Each  night  crowds  of  penitents  throng 
the  altar  for  pra3ers — averaging  from  eighty-five  to  one  hundred— and 
the  number  of  conversions,  according  to  the  most  correct  estimate,  will 
not  fall  below  one  hun<lred  and  lorty." 

The  whole  number  converted  at  these  meetings  was  four  hundred  and 
seventy-eight,  while  hundreds  more,  who  had  yielded  to  the  vices  and 
temptations  of  the  camp,  found  the  joy  of  salvation  restored  to  their  souls. 
Under  the  preaching  of  Rev.  S.  M.  Cherry,  in  McCown's  Division,  the 
conversions  in  two  regiments  reached  one  hundred  and  forty.  In  the 
brigades  of  Generals  A.  P.  Stewart  and  Wright  the  revival  was  power- 
ful, and  many  were  converted.  "In  these  revivals,"  says  Mr.  Pet- 
way,  "•  two  encouraging  facts  are  made  manifest.  We  see  officers,  from 
colonels  of  regiments  down  to  captains,  lieutenants,  and  sergeants,  giving 
their  counsels  and  mingling  their  tears,  songs,  and  prayers  with  those  of 
the  private  soldier,  and  a  good  number  of  those  who  arc  thus  engaged 
have  recently  been  made  partakers  of  God's  converting  grace." 

To  this  work  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  McFerrin,  who  had  been  recently  appointed 
army  missionary,  contributed  greatly  by  his  able  and  fervent  sermons. 
He  was  personally  known  to  thousands  of  the  Aimy  of  Tennessee,  and 
his  coming  was  like  the  visit  of  a  father  to  his  children. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  sent  forth  many  of  her  ablest  ministers. 
Rev.  Dr.  W^addell,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Mississippi,  was  ap- 
l)ointed  Superintendent  of  Army  Missions  in  the  West  and  South-west, 
and  he  was  ably  supporteil  by  such  men  as  Dr.  Palmer,  of  New  Orleans, 


EELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  289 

Dr.  Rutheifoid,  Dr.  E.  T.  Baird,  Rev.  J.  H.  Bryson,  and  many  other 
earnest  preachers,  lu  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  they  had  Dr.  B.  T. 
Lacy,  Dr.  K.  E.  Dabney,  and  others,  who  gave  a  great  imijetus  to  the  re- 
vival by  their  unwearied  and  successful  labors.  Besides  the  regular  mis- 
sionaries, the  pastors  of  the  home  Churches  of  all  denominations  visited 
and  preached  to  the  various  camps  on  all  occasions  when  they  could  spare 
time  from  their  charges. 

Rev.  Messrs.  McFerrin,  Petway,  and  Ransom,  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South,  went  to  the  help  of  General  Bragg'sarmy;  Messrs.  Thwoat  and 
Harrington,  of  the  same  Church,  to  the  army  in  Mississippi;  while  Bishop 
J'ierce,  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and  Rev.  J.  E.  Evans  went  to  General  Lee's 
army  in  Virginia.  Rev.  Dr.  Kavanaugh  was  sent  to  the  army  of  General 
Price,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Marvin  (now  Bishop)  was  directed  by  Bishop  Pierce 
to  take  position  as  missionary  with  any  army  corps  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  work  of  these  ministers,  with  that  of  other  zealous  men  from 
Bister  Churches,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  revival.  In  Colonel  Col- 
quitt's Forty-sixth  Georgia  Regiment,  camped  near  Verona,  Miss.,  the 
work  was  powerful,  and  great  numbers  were  converted.  "  Last  night," 
says  Rev.  T.  C.  Stanley,  "there  were  about  eighty  presented  themselves 
for  i)rayer,  kneeling  u^on  the  ground." 

Rev.  R.  G.  Porter,  chaplain  of  the  Tenth  Mississippi  Regiment,  Bragg's 
army,  says:  "It  makes  my  veiy  soul  happy  to  witness  the  manifesta- 
tions of  God's  saving  power  as  seen  here  in  the  army — from  ten  to  forty  at 
the  altar  of  prayer.  Have  preaching  every  day  when  not  hindered  by  the 
men  being  called  off." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer,  of  Xew  Orleans,  preached  with  power  and  love, 
and  under  his  word  the  revival  deepened.  Rev.  C.  W.  Miller,  army  mis- 
sionary, writes  of  the  work  in  Georgia  in  General  D.  H.  Hill's  Corps: 
"  Since  I  arrived  here  as  missionary  I  have  been  engaged  every  night  in 
religious  services  with  the  soldiers.  A  revival  and  extensive  awakening 
have  been  in  progress  in  General  Bate's  Brigade  for  four  weeks.  Every 
night  the  altar  is  crowded  with  weeping  penitents.  Several  have  been 
happily  converted.    To  me  it  is  the  most  interesting  sight  of  my  life." 

Even  under  the  Are  of  the  Federal  batteries  the  work  went  on.  Rev. 
Mr.  Browning,  from  Chattanooga,  says:  "Yesterday  evening  about  Ave 
o'clock  the  enemy  began  to  throw  shells  across  the  river  again,  firing 
slowly  for  about  an  hour.  Notwithstanding  this,  at  the  usual  hour  (twi- 
light) we  had  a  very  large  crowd  of  anxious  listeners  at  the  rude  arbor 
the  men  had  erected  for  the  worship  of  God.    A  short  discourse  was  de- 

19 


290  APPENDIX. 

livcrcd,  ■when  the  penitents  were  invitcit  to  the  nltar.  Fifty  or  sixty  came 
forward,  earnestly  inquiring  the  way  ot  salvation.  Ten  of  this  number 
were  converted  and  enabled  to  'testify  of  a  truth'  that  Christ  was  their 
Saviour.  The  work  is  still  extending.  Each  night  increases  the  attend- 
ance, the  Interest,  and  the  number  of  penitents.  During  a  ministry  of  a 
fourth  of  a  century  I  have  never  witnessed  a  work  so  deep,  so  general,  ami 
so  successful.  It  pervades  all  classes  of  the  army  (in  this  brigade),  and 
elicits  the  co-operation  of  all  denominations.  M'e  know  no  distinction 
here.  Baptists,  Cumberlands,  Old  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians,  and 
Methodists  work  together  and  rejoice  together  at  the  success  of  our  cause." 
Mr.  Browning  writes  again  from  the  same  place:  "The  glorious  work 
of  God  is  still  progressing  in  this  brigade.  About  one  hundred  and  thirty 
conversions  up  to  this  time.  The  interest  is  unabated— from  sixty  to 
seventy-five  penitents  at  the  altar  each  night.  It  is  wonderful  that  for 
nearly  five  weeks  we  have  been  enabled  to  continue  this  work,  with  but 
one  night's  interference  from  rain  and  one  on  picket." 

From  General  Bragg'a  ai-my,  that  veteran  soldier  of  the  cross,  Br.  J. 
B.  McFerrin,  wrote:  "I  have  the  pleasure  of  saying  that, notwithstand- 
ing the  I'ccent  numerous  movements  of  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  the  work 
of  God  still  progresses.  Many  have  been  brougnt  to  Christ  in  various 
brigades,  and  Avhenever  the  troops  remain  long  enough  in  one  place  relig- 
ious services  are  observed  with  great  effect.  The  chaplains  and  mis- 
sionaries work  Avith  zeal,  and  have  much  good  fruit.  Let  our  friends  at 
home  thank  God  and  take  courage.  Hundreds  of  soldiers  are  coming  to 
Jesus.  My  health  is  good,  though  I  feel  weak  with  jaundice.  "We  now 
have  at  work  in  this  army,  as  missionaries  from  our  Church,  Revs.  R.  P. 
Ransom,  C.  W.  Miller,  Wellboi-n  Mooney,  W.  Biut,  Brother  Allen,  and 
your  humble  servant.    We  expect  Brother  Pctway." 

Soldiers  were  converted  by  thousands  every  week.  From  Virginia 
Rev.  G.  B.  Talley  wrote:  "God  is  wonderfully  reviving  his  work  here 
and  throughout  the  ainny.  Congregations  largo,  interest  almost  univer- 
sal. In  our  chaplains'  meeting  it  was  thought,  with  imperfect  statistics, 
that  about  five  hundred  are  converted  every  week.  We  greatly  need 
chaplains — men  of  experience  and  ministerial  influence.  Our  Regiment- 
al Christian  Association,  as  a  kind  of  substitute  for  a  Church,  antl  our 
Bible  classes  are  doing  well." 

Under  the  powei-ful  stimulus  of  .such  a  revival  the  Churches  at  home 
redoubled  their  efforts  to  supply  preachers. 

Rev.  S.  M.  CheiTy,  one  of  the  most  faithful  laborers  among  the  soldiers 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  291 

of  the  Western  army,  gives  an  account  of  the  blessed  scenes  that  were 
witnessed  among  the  wounded  and  dying  inen  at  Chickamauga.  Of  the 
work  of  the  chaplains  he  says:  "  Dr.  McFerrin  was  at  Cleburne's  Divis- 
ion hospital,  where  his  son  was,  slightly  wounded,  and  his  nephew,  Rev. 
John  P.  McFerrin,  severely  wounded,  working  with  the  sufferers.  Dr. 
Cross,  chaplain  on  General  Buckner's  staff,  was  on  the  field  and  at  the 
hospital.  BrothersMooney  and  Miller  were  at  Stewart's  Division  hospital, 
active  and  industrious  in  attending  to  the  wounded  and  dying.  Dr.  Pet- 
way  came  in  good  time  to  render  efficient  aid  in  the  double  capacity  of 
surgeon  and  minister.  I  saw  Brothers  Burr  and  Browning  on  the  Held; 
also  Brothers  Quarles,  Harris,  A.  W.  Smith,  Fitzgerald,  Daniel,  andotliers, 
looking  after  their  wounded  and  suffering  soMiers.  Chaplain  Willoughby 
was  with  the  dying,  and  superintended  the  burial  of  the  dead  of  our  di- 
vision. Brother  McVoy  came  in  time  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  his  men 
at  the  hospital,  and  many  others  were  at  the  post  of  duty,  if  not  of  danger." 
"  It  was  encouraging,"  he  says,  "  to  the  Christian  heart,  to  see  the  sol- 
diers of  the  cross  die  so  heroicly.  Said  Mr.  Pool,  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church  in  Columbus,  Ga.,  whose  shoulder  was  shattered:  '  Parson, 
write  my  wife  a  calm  letter,  and  tell  her  how  I  died,  for  I  will  never  be 
able  to  write  to  her  again.  Tell  her  I  was  ready  and  willing  to  die.'  Mr. 
Turner,  of  Elbert  County,  Ga.,  was  horribly  mangled  by  a  shell,  and 
while  on  the  gory  litter  said  to  me:  'I  want  to  die;  all  is  well.'  Sam 
Robins,  of  Spring  Place,  Ga.,  amid  the  flying,  falling,  and  exploding 
shells,  handed  me  his  hymn-book  and  his  wife's  ambrotype,  having  the 
night  previous  talked  long  with  me  about  his  religious  enjoyments,  pious 
mother,  and  praying  father,  sending  messages  of  love  to  his  youthful  wife, 
and  testifying  that  he  had  no  fear  of  death." 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  sent  over  fifty 
laborers  into  the  army.  At  the  session  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia  Dr.  J. 
Leighton  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Missions,  gave  a  sketch  of  the  army  revival, 
and  urged  that  his  Church  prosecute  its  army  mission-work  with  increased 
zeal.  Dr.  Wilson  said:  "  There  is  a  state  of  religion  in  the  Army  of  Ten- 
nessee quite  as  interesting  as  that  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Palmer  says  he  has  never  before  seen  so  great  a  movement. 
Go  where  you  will,  and  only  let  it  be  known  that  you  are  to  preach— it 
hardly  makes  a  difference  who  the  preacher  is — and  crowds  will  attend  to 
hear.  Dr.  Wilson  thought  it  doubtful  whether  there  had  been  any  thing 
since  the  days  of  Pentecost  equal  to  this  wonderful  work  of  the  Holy 
Si)irit  of  God  in  our  army.    If  ever  there  was  a  mighty,  an  imperative 


292  APPENDIX. 

call  upon  us,  it  is  now.  If  wc  do  not  rise  to  the  occasion,  our  Church  will 
degrade  herself  belgre  the  world  and  Before  other  denominations." 

Of  his  work  after  the  battle  of  Chickainauga  Dr.  J.  B.  McFerrin  wrote: 
"The  revival  in  the  army  progressed  up  to  the  time  of  tlie  Chickamjiuga 
light;  and  even  since,  notwithstanding  the  condition  of  troops  moving  to 
and  fro,  or  engaged  in  erecting  fortifications,  the  good  work  in  some  regi- 
ments still  goes  on.  The  good  accomplished  by  the  ministry  of  the  word 
will  never  be  appreciated  by  the  Church  till  the  light  of  eternity  shall  re- 
veal it.  Some  of  the  fruits  have  already  ripened :  souls  converted  in  the 
army  have  gone  to  the  rest  that  remains  for  the  people  of  God.  The  chap- 
lains and  missionaries  will  have  many  seals  to  their  ministry," 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  gallant  band  tliat  General  Price  led 
from  Missouri,  and  their  deeds  of  valor  at  Corinth,  Jliss.,  and  other  places 
are  well  known  to  those  who  can  recall  the  scenes  in  the  South -west.  One 
of  the  most  faithful  laborers  in  tliis  corps  of  our  army  was  llev.  Dr.  B.  T. 
Kavanangh,  who  has  kindlj-  sent  us  the  following  account  of  tlie  revival 
which  prevailed  in  General  Price's  Corps  on  this  side  and  beyond  the 
Mississippi  River:  "Among  those  who  came  out  of  Missouri  with  General 
Price's  army  are  John  R.  Bennett  (your  brother),  W.  M.  Patterson,  Nathan  - 
jel  M.  Talbott,  and  myself,  besides  Brothers  Minchell,  Harris,  Dryden,  and 
McCary.  Subsequently  we  were  joined  by  Brother  E.  M.M.arvin  (now  Bish- 
op) and  others.  But  little  visible  effect  followed  our  preaching  for  the 
first  year  or  two,  while  the  soldier's  life  was  a  novelty;  but  after  two 
years'  hard  sei"vice  the  romance  of  the  soldier's  life  wore  off,  and  a  more 
sober  and  serious  mood  seemed  to  prevail  in  our  camps.  The  first  decided 
revival  that  occurred  under  mj'  observation  and  ministry  was  in  the 
State  of  Mississippi,  to  which  State  I  had  followed  General  Price's  ai-my, 
while  we  were  encamped  near  Tupelo.  Here  we  kept  up  nightly  meet- 
ings for  several  weeks  In  our  camp,  and  there  were  some  forty-conversions 
or  more.  Brothers  Bennett,  Hanis,  and  myself  held  a  profitable  meeting 
near  Grenada,  Miss.,  where  wc  had  some  conversions;  but  for  a  length  of 
time  the  army  was  kept  In  motion  so  constantly  that  we  had  but  little 
opportunity  for  religious  seiTices.  "When  the  armj-  retreated  from  Big 
Black  into  Virksburg  Brothers  Bennett.  Patterson,  and  myself  rode  to- 
gether into  that  devoted  city.  The  regiment  to  which  I  was  then  chap- 
lain had  been  captuieil  at  Big  Black,  and  as  I  had  no  duties  to  pei-form.  I 
told  those  brethren  that  I  should  make  my  escape  from  the  city  before  the 
enemy's  lines  Avere  thrown  around  us,  and  requested  them  to  join  me. 
Brother  Bennett  refused,  saying  he  should  stick  to  his  men,  and  Patterson 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  AHMY.  293 

refiiseil  to  leave  Bennett  alone.  I  obtained  leave  of  absence,  anrl  maile  my 
escape  by  riding  all  night  alone,  and  found  myself  outside  of  Grant's  lines 
the  next  morning,  and  went  into  Selnia,  Ala.,  where  "I  spent  the  summer. 
J  rcfincsted  Bishop  Paine  to  give  me  a  commission  as  a  missionary  to 
General  Price's  army,  which  was  then  in  Arkansas.  I  obtained  it,  and 
left  the  house  of  Robert  A.  Baker,  my  cousin,  in  Alabama,  on  September 
15,  lso3.  1  succeeded  in  making  the  trip,  crossing  the  Mississippi  River 
just  below  Bolivar,  swimming  my  horse,  and  arrived  in  General  Price's 
camp  early  in  October.  My  first  work  was  to  organize  all  the  chaplains 
and  missionaries  into  an  association  for  mutual  aid  andxo-operation. 
Wlien  we  went  into  camp  at  Camp  Bragg,  thirty  miles  west  of  Camden,  \vc 
there  commenced  our  work  in  earnest.  Tlii'ough  the  winter  of  1803-4  we 
kept  up  our  meetings  in  camp,  had  seats  and  pulpit  prepared,  and  were 
successful  in  having  more  than  one  hundred  conversions.  After  the  bat- 
tles of  Mansfield  ami  Pleasant  Hill,  in  Louisiana,  our  armies  returned  to 
Arkansas,  and  made  an  encampment  at  a  place  called  Three  Creeks,  on 
the  southern  line  of  the  State  of  Arkansas.  Here  I  commenced  preaching 
oil  June  10, 1864,  and  continued  our  meetings  until  the  10th  of  September. 
An  extensive  revival  commenced  within  a  few  days  after  our  meeting 
commenced,  and  grew  in  interest  and  power  to  the  close.  We  had  preach- 
ing, beginning  at  early  candle-light — or  rather  pine-knot  fires  on  stands 
around  the  preaching-place.  After  about  ten  o'clock  at  night  the  preach- 
ing and  other  exercises  at  the  stand  closed;  but  this  was  but  the  begin- 
ning of  the  night's  work.  Like  meetings  were  held  in  other  camps  by 
Dr.  A.  R.  Winfield  and  Brother  Jewell,  of  Camden.  At  Three  Creeks  I 
had  the  aid  of  Brothers  Talbott,  Drvden,  and  Minchell,  of  Missouri,  and  a 
Baptist  chaplain  from  Arkansas,  whose  name  I  do  not  remember.  To 
sum  up  the  results  of  these  gracious  revivals  in  the  army,  we  may  safely 
say  that  at  Three  Creeks  there  were  five  hundred  conversions,  under 
Brothers  Winfield  and  Jewell  there  were  three  hundred,  at  Camden  and 
Camp  Bragg  there  were  two  hundred— making  in  all  in  Arkansas  one  thou- 
sand souls.  To  show  the  genuineness  of  this  work  of  grace  upon  the  lives 
of  these  converts,  we  have  to  remark  that  after  our  camp  was  broken  \\p, 
and  the  army  was  put  upon  the  march  to  distant  fields,  wlierever  we  went 
into  cainp  but  for  a  night  our  boys  held  prayer-meetings  every  night, 
greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  the  people  in  the  country  who  were  wit- 
nesses of  their  devotion.  Afterthe  army  was  disbanded,  in  riding  through 
the  country  in  Arkansas  and  Texas,  I  met  witli  some  of  our  converts,  who 
had  returned  to  their  families  and  parents,  and  tliey  were  still  true  to 


294  APPENDIX. 

llieir  profession  and  evinced  a  decidedly  firm  Christian  character.  The 
parents  of  some  of  these  young  men  have  since  told  me  that  in  iilace  of 
having  the  characters  and  habits  of  their  sons  ruined  by  being  in  the 
army  they  had  returned. to  them  as  happy  Christian  men." 

In  a  letter  from  the  lines  in  front  of  Atlanta  the  Kev.  S.  M.  Cherry  gives 
an  account  of  the  scenes  he  witnessed  on  the  first  Sunday  in  August,  18W : 
"At  9  A.M.  I  reached  the  Missouri  Brigade  of  General  French's  Division, 
and  found  the  soldiers  gathering  for  prayer-meeting.  At  eleven  o'clock 
Chaplain  E.  M.  Bounds,  now  editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Christian  Advocate, 
was  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  Rev.  Mr.  Manning,  a  pious  young 
minister  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  recently  appointed 
cliaphiiii  of  a  Missouri  regiment,  but  before  he  received  his  commission  lie 
was  killed  in  battle  while  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  an  officer  of  the 
line.  As  I  approached  Sears's  Mississippi  Bi-igaile  I  saw  a  group  of  sol- 
diers, with  uncovered  heads,  bowing  beside  a  row  of  new-made  gi-aves, 
two  of  which  contained  the  forms  of  comrades  now  being  consigned  to  the 
cold  clay.  Chaplain  Lattimore  was  engaged  in  prayer.  I  joined  in  the 
solemn  burial  services  of  the  soldiers  slain  in  the  strife  of  Saturday." 

Next  he  came  to  the  brigades  of  Ector,  McNair,  and  Gbolson:  "I  looked 
around  for  a  suitable  place  for  preaching.  A  central  point  to  the  three 
commands  was  selected,  but  not  a  single  tree  or  shrub  was  to  be  found  to 
screen  us  from  the  intense  he.at  of  an  August  sun.  Soon  the  singing  col- 
lected a  large  congregation  of  attentive  soldiers.  A  caisson  served  for  a 
])ulpit,  while  the  cannon,  open-mouthed,  stood  in  front  of  the  foe.  We 
were  in  full  range  and  in  open  view  of  the  enemy,  but  not  a  single  shell  or 
minie-ball  was  heard  hissing  or  hurtling  near  during  the  hour's  service. 
The  soldiers  sat  on  the  ground,  beneath  the  burning  sun,  listening  serious- 
ly to  the  words  of  life.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  they  crowded  up  to  get 
Testaments  and  papers.  I  regretted  much  that  I  could  only  furnish  five 
of  theformerto  a  regiment.  On  Friday  an  intellectual  youngofflcercame 
forward  ami  joined  the  Church.  The  day  following  he  was  killed  in  a 
skirmish  with  the  enemy.  During  the  service  in  Sears's  Brigade  there  was 
a  sharp  skirmish  in  the  front  of  that  command,  and  the  pickets  were  so 
closely  pressed  that  the  officer  in  command  of  the  brigade  sent  a  re-enforce- 
ment at  the  close  of  the  service,  and  there  was  a  continnoxis  cannonade  to 
the  left.  Strange  to  see  soldiers  in  the  trenches  with  a  sharp  fire  in  front 
and  a  rapid  roar  of  artillery  on  their  flank,  and  a  shower  of  rain  falling, 
yet  quietly  sitting  or  patiently  standing  to  hear  the  gospel." 

Up  to  January,  1865,  it  was  estimated  that  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  295 

thousand  soldiers  had  been  converted  during  the  progress  of  the  war,  and 
it  was  believed  that  fully  one-third  of  all  the  soldiers  in  the  field  were 
praying  men  and  members  of  some  branch  of  the  Christian  Church.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  higher  officers  were  men  of  faith  and  prayer,  and 
many  others,  though  not  professedly  religious,  were  moral  and  respectful 
to  all  the  religious  services,  and  confessed  the  value  of  the  revival  in  pro- 
moting tlie  eificiency  of  the  army. 

Prison  Service. 

Not  only  in  the  army  at  home  did  our  soldiers  manifest  the  deepest  in- 
tcres';  in  religion,  but  even  in  the  dreary  prisons  of  the  North  they  prayed 
for  and  received  the  divine  blessing.  An  officer  at  Johnson's  Island 
writes  to  tlie  Southern  Presbyterian: 

"  This  is  the  last  quarter  of  a  long,  long  twelve- months'  confinement.  1 
try  to  pass  my  time  as  profitably  as  I  can.  We  have  preaching  regularly 
every  Sabbath,  prayer- meeting  two  or  three  times  a  week,  and  worship 
in  my  room  every  night.  We  also  have  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, Masonic  meetings,  etc.  I  attend  all  of  these,  and  fill  out  the  rest  of 
my  time  by  reading  the  Bible.  We  have  had  some  precious  'religious 
times.  There  have  been  about  one  hundred  conversions — colonels,  majors, 
c.iptain?,  and  lieutenants  being  among  the  number." 

A  lieutenant  writes  thus:  "  I  am  glad  to  state  that  I  am  a  better  man 
than  when  you  saw  me  last.  There  are  about  two  thousand  officers  here, 
and  I  never  have  seen  so  great  a  change  in  the  morals  of  any  set  of  men  as 
has  been  here  in  the  last  four  months." 

We  have  referred  to  scenes  in  the  prisons  North  and  South  where  thou- 
san<ls  languished  and  died.  In  Richmond  was  a  prison  noted  over  the 
whole  country.  We  refer  to  the  "  Libby ."  Here  were  confined  many  hun- 
dreds of  Northern  soldiers;  to  them  the  gospel  was  preached  by  Southern 
ministers,  and  may  we  not  hope  that  some  at  least  found  the  peace  of  God 
in  the  midst  of  war?  The  writer  himself  had  the  privilege  of  ofl"ering 
spiritual  consolation  to  Federal  soldiers,  sict,  wounded,  and  dying,  and 
he  rejoices  to  believe  that  not  a  few  regted  their  souls  in  the  last  trying 
hour  upon  the  merits  of  Christ. 

The  following  testimony  comes  from  one  who  was  personally  engaged 
in  the  blessed  work  of  leading  soldiers  on  both  sides  to  the  fountain  of  life: 
"In  Richmond  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woodbridge,  of  the  Protestant  Ejuscopal 
Church,  and  family  (and  this  was  tiiie  of  other  clergymen),  were  found 
ready  to  furnish  books,  papers,  etc.,  to  abate  the  rigors  of  prison  life  to 


296  APPENDIX. 

Feilcral  soMicrs  in  the  Libby.  One  of  the  chaplains  relinquished  his  oth- 
er work,  and  devoted  himself  to  visiting  and  preaching  to  the  oflicers  and 
sohiiers,  and  to  ministering  to  their  wants.  Tliis  was  followed  up  by  frc- 
(juent  visits  and  ministrations  of  various  kinds;  and  it  is  said  tliat  all  the 
supplies  sent  fi'om  the  North  to  the  prisoners  of  war  were  brought  about 
by  a  chaplain  in  a  North  Carolina  regiment." 

Since  the  foregoing  was  in  the  hands  of  the  compositor  I  liave 
received  the  following  from  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Bolton,  now  presiding 
elder  of  the  Savannah  District,  who  was  well  known  to  me  as  a 
most  gallant  private  soldier  from  1861  till  Anally  appointed 
chaplain  in  1863,  I  believe,  and  was  very  faithfid  and  zealous, 
and  truly  popular  among  the  soldiers  until  the  surrender  in  1865. 
When  the  statement  which  he  furnishes  by  my  request  was  an- 
nounced at  our  chaplains'  meeting  at  Dalton,  the  question  very 
naturally  asked  and  discussed  was :  "  What  became  of  the  ten 
penitents — or  the  eight,  rather — who  were  instantly  killed  while 
upon  their  knees  seeking  salvation?"  Without  any  liesitation 
I  declared :  "  If  they  were  truly  penitent,  forsaking  and  confess- 
ing their  sins,  praying  for  pardon,  trusting  with  all  their  hearts 
in  Christ  for  salvation,  they  were  saved."    Who  questions  it? 

March  7,  1800. 

After  spending  the  winter  near  Dalton,  Ga.,  some  time  in  the  spring — 
Ai)ril,  I  think, of  1864 — our(Mancy's)  brigade,  Choatham'sDivision,  Army 
of  Tennessee,  was  moved  to  a  new  encampment.  After  cleaning  off  the 
ground,  burning  the  leaves  and  binsh,  anil  making  ourselves  as  comfort- 
able as  possible,  I,  being  chaiilain  of  the  Fiftieth  Tennessee,  got  a  number 
of  my  regiment  and  some  members  of  the  other  regiments  together.  We 
cleaned  off  a  place  near  the  center  of  the  brigade,  and  prepared  seats  for 
divine  services,  having  had  successful  revival  services  in  the  command 
for  several  weeks  previous.  On  Saturday  evening  we  finished  uj)  our 
work,  and  at  the  time  for  evening  service  the  bugle  sounded  the  Church 
call  and  Ave  or  six  hundred  soldiers  repaired  to  the  ]i1  ace  for  worship. 
F?ov.  Allen  Tribble,  late  a  member  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  who  was 
cliaplain  of  the  Vourth  (Confederate)  Tennessee  licgiment  of  .Mnney"s  IJii- 
gade,  was  to  assist  in  the  meeting.    After  confcrrini;  witli  liim,  it  was 


KELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  AEMY.  297 

agreed  that  I  should  preach  Saturday  night  and  he  Sunday  moraing;  so 
after  the  preliminary  services  I  pr-eached  from  Luke  xii.  31:  "But  rather 
seek  ye  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you."  Being  young  in  the  ministry,  mine  were  not  words  of  enticing 
wisdom;  but  the  Holy  Spirit  was  with  us,  and  at  the  conclusion  penitents 
were  invited,  and  as  well  as  1  now  remember,  about  fifty  came  to  the  altar 
for  i)rayers,  and  the  altar  exercises  had  continued  but  a  short  while  when 
tlie  whole  congregation  was  thrown  into  utter  confusion.  One  penitent, 
a  member  of  the  Fourth  Tennessee  Kegiment,  whom  I  thought  would  be 
converted  in  a  moment,  and  to  whom  I  had  just  been  talking,  suddenly 
fell  backward  against  my  knees  and  remained  perfectly  motionless.  I 
put  my  hand  upon  his  head,  and  found  his  skull  cmshed  to  pieces.  1  then 
called  f(n-  a  surgeon;  and  soon  after,  the  confusion  subsiding  to  some  ex- 
tent, 1  learned  that  a  tree  had  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation, 
killing  eight  instantly  and  mortally  wounding  two  others  who  died  dur- 
ing the  night,  making  ten  in  all.  We  buried  them  next  day  iSundaj') 
with  military  honors,  the  Methodist  burial  service  being  read  by  Rev. 
Tilman  Page,  late  of  the  Memphis  Conference,  but  then  chaplain  of  one 
of  the  Tennessee  regiments.  It  seemed  that  while  clearing  up  the  en- 
campment a  small  limbless  tree  had  caught  on  fli'e,  and,  being  overlooked, 
had  burned  sufllciently  to  cause  its  fall,  resulting  as  above  stated.  We 
continued  the  services  during  our  stay  at  that  place,  and  they  were  finally 
closed  by  the  brigade  being  ordered  to  the  front  to  meet  Sherman,  who 
was  threatening  an  attack  on  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  near  Tunnel  Hill.  We 
were  assisted  in  the  meeting  by  Rev.  C.  1>.  Elliott,  D.D.,  chaplain  in  Ma- 
ney's  Brigade,  and  Rev.  William  Bun-,  late  a  member  of  the  Tennessee 
Conference,  and  then  a  missionary  to  the  Army  of  Tennessee. 

Lawrenceburg.  Tenn.,  March  4,  1890. 

Chaplains  W.  C.  Atmore,  of  the  Fifteenth  Kentucky  Regiment, 
father  of  C.  P.  Atmore,  of  the  L.  and  N.  Railroad ;  J.  E.  Reed,  of 
the  Thirty-eighth  Illinois  Regiment;  J.  C.  Thomas,  of  the 
Eighty-eighth  Illinois  Regiment  of  the  Federal  army,  were  capt- 
ured by  our  army  at  Stone's  River  December  31, 1862,  and  I  had 
a  pleasant  interview  with  them. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  William  Jones's  "  Christ  in 
the  Camp"  for  the  following  list  of  chaplains  in  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia: 


298  APPENDIX. 

First  Maryland  Regiment,  Rev.  Mr.  Cameron. 

Virginia  Jiegiinents.— First,  Rev.  Mr.  Aldrich;  Second,  Rev.  Mr.  Mc- 
Veigh and  A.  C.  Hopkins;  Third,  Rev.  3Ir.  Hammond  and  J.  W.  Ward; 
Fourth,  Rev.  F.  C.Tebbs  and  William  R.  McXear;  Seventh,  J.  H.  Bocock, 

F.  M.  McCarthy,  and Frazier;  Eighth,  T.  A.  Ware  and  G.  W.  Harris; 

Kinth,  J.  W.  Walkup  and  G.  W.  Easter;  Tenth,  J.  P.  Hyde,  S.  S.  Lam- 
beth, and Balthis;  Eleventh,  Dr.  J.  C.  Granbery  and  T.  C.  Jennings; 

Twelfth,  S.  v.  Hoyle;  Thirteenth,  Dr.  J.  William  Jones;  Fourteenth, 

Crocker;  Fifteenth,  J.  F.  August;  Seventeenth,  J.  L.  Johnson  and  K.  M. 
Baker;  Eighteenth,  J.  D.  Black  well;  Nineteenth,  P.  Slaughter;  Twenty- 
lirst,  J.  H.  Gilmer;  Twenty-third,  P.  C.  Jlorton;  Twenty-fourth,  W.  T. 
Gardiner;  Twenty-flfth,  G.  B.  Taylor  and  J.  W.  Jones;  Twenty-sixth,  W. 

E.   Wiatt;   Twenty-seventh,  L.  C.  Vass;  Twenty-eighth,  Tinsley; 

Twenty-ninth, Phillips;  Thirtieth,  W.  R.  D.  Moncure;  Thiity-flrst, 

A.  D.  Lepps;  Thirty-third,  J.  M.  Grandin;  Fortieth,  G.  T.  Bagley  and  J. 
M.  Anderson;  Forty-first,  J.  W.  Pugh;  Forty-second,  Thomas  Williams; 
Forty-fourth,  R.  I.  Mcllwane  and  James  Nelson;  forty-sixtli,  W.  G. 
Miller;  Forty-seventh,  S.  B.  3Ieridith;  Forty -eighth,  George  E.  Booker; 
Forty-ninth,  J.  P.  Garland;  Fiftieth,  J.  W.  Dennj';  Fifty-second,  John 
Magill;  Fifty-third,  W.  S.  Penick,  P.  H.  Fontaine,  and Colton;  Fifty- 
fifth,  R.  B.  Beadles;  Fifty-sixth, Robbins;  Fifty-seventh,  J.  E.  Joy- 

ner;  Fifty -eighth,  George  Slaughter  and  L.  B.  3Iadison;  Fifty-ninth, 
L.  B.  Wharton;  Sixty-first,  H.  H.  Hatcher. 

North  Carolina  RccjimeiHs.— First,  W.  R.  Gwaltney;  Second  Battal- 
ion,   Tcnnent;  Twelfth,  J.  H.  Robbins;   Fourteenth,  W.  C.  Power; 

Fifteenth,  S.  W.  Howerton;  Sixteenth,  W^atson;   Twentieth,  L.  A. 

Bickle  and  J.  M.  Sprunt;  Twenty-second,  F.  H.  Woml;  Twenty-fourth,  T. 

B.  Neil ;  Twenty-sixth,  A.N.  Wells; Twenty-eighth,  F.  M. Kennedy;  Thir- 
tieth, A.  D.  Betts;  Thirty-second,  W.  B.  Richardson;  Thirty-third,  T.  J. 
Eatman;   Thirty-fourth,  A.  R.  Benick;  Thirty-seventh,  A.  L.  Stough; 

Thirty-eight,  McDiarmid;   Forty-third,  E.  H.  Thompson;  Foity- 

fourth,  R.  S.Wcbb;  Forty-flfth,  E.  H.  Hardin;  Forty-sixth,  A.  D.Colien; 
Forty-seventh,  AV.  S.  Eacey;  Forty -eight,  C.  Plyer;  Fifty-first, San- 
ford  and  J.  M.  Cline;  Fifty-third,  J.  H.  Colton;  Fifty-seventh,  Jolin 
Paris. 

South  Carolina  Heffiments.— First,  George  T.  T.  AVilliams;  Second,  W. 
E.  "Walters;  Fifth,  J.  N.  Craig;  Sixth,  W^  E.  Boggs;  Seventh,  J.  M.  Car- 
lisle; Eighth,  11.  M.  Brearly:  Twelfth,  Dixon  and  J.  M.  .\nder- 

son;  Thirteenth,  Wallace  AV.  Duncan  and  J.  N.  Bouchclle;  Fourteentli, 


BELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  AKMY.  299 

AV.  B.  Carson;  Fifteenth,  H.  B.  McCallum;  Sharp-shooters,  James  Mc- 
Dowel. 

Georgia  Regiments.— TYiivA,  J.  M.  Stokes;  Fourth,  R.  F,  Evans;  Sixth, 

A.  M.  Thigpen;  Seventh, Stokes;  Eighth,  W.  C.  Dunlap;  Ninth,  H. 

A.  Tapper,  A.  B.  Campbell,  and  J.  C.  Byrnham;  Tenth,  J.  C.  Camp; 

Eleventh,  W.  A.  Simmons;  Twelfth,  A.  M.  Marshall  and Pouldridge; 

Fifteenth,  W.  F.  Robertson;  Seventeenth,  Hudson;  Nineteenth,  A. 

J.  Jiirrell  and  W.  H.  C.  Cone;  Twenty -second,  W.  H.  McAfee;  Twenty- 
third,  W.  A.  Dodge;  Twenty-seventh,  G.  S.  Emory;  Twenty-eighth,  A. 
H.  McVay;  Thirty-flrst,  J.  L.  Tettigrew;  Thirty-fifth,  J.  H.Taylor;  Thir- 
ty-eighth, J.  M.  Brittian;  Forty-fourth,  H.  E.  Brooks;  Forty-fifth,  E.  B. 
Barrett;  Forty-eighth,  J.  A.  Lowery;  Forty-ninth,  J.  J.  Hymon;  Fif- 
tieth, W.  L.  Curry;  Fifty-first,  C.  H.  Toy;  Sixtieth,  S.  H.  Smith;  Sixty- 
first,  A.  B.  Woodfin;  Second  Battalion,  J.  O.  A.  Sparks;  Wofford's  Bri- 
gade, W.  P.  Dubose. 

Florida  Regiments.— Second,  J.  W.  Timberlake;  Seventh,  J.  H.  Tom- 
kies;  Eleventh, Little.' 

Alabama  Regiments. — Third,  T.  J.  Rutledge;  Fourth,  Robert  Frazier; 
Fifth,  W.  G.  Curry;  Sixth,  G.  R.  Talley;  Eighth,  W.  E.  Masscy;  Ninth, 

M.L.  Whitten;  Tenth,  J.. T.  D.  Renfroc;  Eleventh, Johnson;  Twelfth, 

H.  G.  Moore;  Thirteenth,  T.  H.  Howell;  Twenty-sixth,  William  E.  Cam- 
eron; Forty-fourth,  W.  G.  Perry;  Forty-eighth, Price. 

Mississippi  Regiments.— Tvreltth,  C.  H.  Dobbs;  Thirteenth, West; 

Sixteenth,  A.  A.  Lomax;  Seventeenth,  W,  B.  Owen;  Eighteenth,  J.  ^V. 
Hackett;  Nineteenth, Duke;  Twenty-first, McDonald;  Twenty- 
sixth,  M.  B.  Chapman;  Forty-second,  T.  D.  Witherspoon;  Forty-eighth, 
A.  E.  Garrison. 

Louisiana  Regiments.— Fhstj  Father  Sheran;  Second,  Robert  Hardee; 
Fifth,  William  M.  Strickler;  Seventh,  Father  Hubert;  Eighth,  Father 
Schmilders;  Ninth,  F.  McCarthy. 

Tennessee  Regiments.— First,  W.  T.  Helm;  Seventh, HaiTis;  Four- 
teenth, J.  E.  King. 

Third  Arkansas  Regiment,  G.  E.  Butler. 

First  Texas  Regiment,  I.  R.  Vick. 

Army  Corps.— First,  Dr.  Thco.  Pryor;  Second,  Dr.  B.  T.  I.acey,  Dr.  L. 
Rosser,  and  Rev.  E.  J.  Willis;  Third,  Dr.  George  D.  Armstrong. 

Cavalry  Corps,  Virginia  Regiments.— Sixth,  R.  T.  Davis;  Ninth,  C.  H. 
Boggs;  Tenth,  James  B.  Taylor,  Jr. 

Artillery  Ealtalions.—H&skelVs,  J .  A.  Chombliss;  Washington's,  Will- 


300  APPENDIX. 

iam  A.  Hall;  Cutsham's, Page;  Nelson's,  T.  AV.  Gilincv;  Braxton's, 

Dr.  A.  B.  Brown  and  Jes.  Nelson;  Hardaway's,  T.  M.  Nivcu  ami  II.  M. 

AVhite;  Pegram's, Rodman;  Poague's,  James  Whear}'. 

Post  CAapiams.— Petersburg,  Thomas  Hume,  Sr.,  Thomas  Hume,  Jr., 
W.  M.  Young,  and  J.  B.  Hardwicke;  Staunton,  Dr.  J.  B.  Taylor;  Char- 
lottesville, Dr.  W.  P.  Broddus;  Lynchburg,  Rev.  J.  L.  Johnson;  Gordons- 
ville,  Dr.  D.  B.  Ewing;  Farmville,  Rev.  A.  D.  McVeigh;  Danville,  Rev. 
C.  C.  Choplin;  Richmond,  Dr.  J.  B.  Taylor,  Sr.,  Dr.  Robert  Ryland,  Dr. 
W.  \V.  Bennett,  Revs.  William  H.  Williams,  J.  E.  Martin,  and  J.  T.  Car- 
penter-practically the  pastors  of  Richmond,  among  whom  were  Drs.  J. 
T.  Burrows,  J.  B.  Jeter,  D.  Shaver,  J.  B.  Solomon,  and  L.  W.  Seely,  Bap- 
tists; Drs.  M.  D.  Hoge,  T.V.  Moore,  and  C.  H.  Read,  Presbyterians;  Drs.  D. 
S.  Doggett,  J.  A.  Duncan,  and  J.  E.  Edwards, Methodists;  Drs.  C.  Minno- 
gerode,  G.  W.  Woodbridge,  Peterskins,  and  T.  G.  Dashiels,  Episcopalian. 

I  record  here  some  of  the  names  of  preachers  I  met  minister- 
ing to  the  spiritual  interests  of  tlie  soldiers  during  the  war: 

Chaplains  Rush,  of  the  Thinl  Georgia;  McLean,  of  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Georgia;  G.  R.  Kramer,  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Georgia; Thomson, 

of  the  Fortieth  Georgia;  Dr.  Rosser,  of  the  Forty-flrst  Georgia; Os- 

lin,  of  the  Forty-third  Georgia; Brown,  of  the  Forty-sixth  Georgia; 

W.  A.  Park.s,  of  the  Fifty-second  Georgia;  Daniel,  of  the  Fifty- 
seventh  Georgia;  and  J.  JL  Myers, Strickland,  and  Timmons; 

Drs.  Harpe  and  A.G.  Haygood.  Missionaries  to  Georgia  troops,  L.  R. 
Redding  and  L.  B.  Payne. 

Chaplains  J.  G.  Richards,  of  the  Tenth  South  Carolina;  J.  P.  De  Pass, 
of  the  Sixteenth  South  Carolina;  F.  Auld,  of  the  Twenty-fourth  South 
Carolina;  W.  T.  Hall, South  Carolina. 

Chaplains  E.  C,  "Wexler,  of  the  Twenty-ninth  North  Carolina;   . 

Beauman,  of  the  Forty-eighth  North  Carolina. 

Chaplains  R.  L.  Wiggins,  of  the  Fo\irth  Florida;  J.  II.  Torakies,  of  the 
Seventh  Florida;  Giles, Florida. 

Chaplains  L.  C.  Ransom, Alabama;  .T.  IT.  Willoughby,  Eighteenth 

Alabama;  Elbert  West,  Twenty-fifth  Alabama;  W.  W.  Graham,  Twenty- 
eighth  Alabama;  J.  S.  Holt,  Thirty-fourth  Alabama;  C.  M.  Hutton, 
Thirty-sixth  Alabama;  W.  F.  Norton,  Thirty-ninth  Alabama;  Dr.  B.  W. 
McDonald,  Fiftieth  Alabama;  A.  D.  McVoy,  Fifty-eighth  Alabama;  J. 
P.  McMullen,  missionary.  Alabama  Brigade,  Revs.  Lieutenants  Curry 
and  Jones. 


KELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  301 

Chaplain  U.  (J.  Porter  .'"GiUleroy"),  Tenth  Mississippi. 

Chaplains  Morris  and  Finney,  Ector's  Texas  Brigade;  Dr.  Bunting, 
TeiTy's  Texas  Hangers. 

Chaplains  E. M.  Boiuuls  an<l Lattimore,  Cockrill's  Missouri  Brigade. 

Chaplains  H.  H.  Kavanaugh,  of  the  Sixth  Kentucky; Riddle, 

Kentucky;  and  C.  W.  Miller,  missionary  to  Kentucky  troops. 

CliapiainsDr,  C.  T.  Quiutard,  First  Tennessee;  T.  H.  Davenport,  Third 
Tennessee;  Allen  Tnbhle.  Fourth  Tennessee;  C.  S.  Heani,  Fifth  Tennes- 
see; M.  B.  De  Witt,  Eiglith  Tennessee;  Dr.  F.  E.  Pitts  and  P.  G.  Jami- 
son, Eleventh  Tennessee;  W,  T.  Bennett,  Twelfth  Tennessee;  L.  II.  Mil- 
iken,  Thirteenth  Tennessee;  II.  B.  Moore,  Seventeentli  Tennessee;  J.  A. 
Ellis,  Twentieth  Tennessee;  J.  F.  McCutchon,  Twenty-fourth  Tennessee; 
A.  W.  Smith,  Twenty-Iifth  Tennessee; Harris,  Twenty-sixth  Ten- 
nessee; J.  C.  Chapman,  Thirty-second  Tennessee;  J.  W.  Johnson,  Thir- 
tj'-seventh  Tennessee;  — -  McMurray,  Forty-fifth  Tennessee;  J.  H. 
McNeely,  Forty-ninth  Tennessee;  J.  G.  Bolton,  Fiftieth  Tennessee;  S. 
A.  Kelly,  Strahl's  Tennessee  Brigatle.  Drs.  i\  S.  Tetway  and  Joseph 
Cross,  also  Revs.  J.  W.  Cullum,  W.  H.  Browning,  J.  B.  Allison,  B.  M. 
Stephens,  and  others  were  chaplains  from  Tennessee. 

H.  D.  Hogan,  J.  H.  Strayliorn,  John  Goal,  John  A.Thompson, 
J.  R.  Harris,  John  P.  McFerrin,  F.  Tarrant,  William  H.  Anthony, 
T.  L.  Duncan,  B.  W.  Bond,  W.  D.  Cherry,  R.  A.  Wilson,  M.  G. 
Williams,  J.  G.  Hinson,  B.  F.  Smith,  A.  L.  Hamilton,  J.  B.  Ham- 
ilton, F.  R.  Hill,  and  others,  were  in  the  Southern  army,  some 
of  whom  I  never  saw  during  the  war.  Dr.  J.  B.  McFerrin,  Will- 
iam Burr,  W.  Mooney,  and  R.  P.  Ransom  I  met  often  in  their 
active  work  as  missionaries  to  the  Army  of  Tennessee. 

The  following  were  appointed  by  the  Missionary  Board  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South :  Revs.  Leo.  Rosser  and  J. 
C.  Granbery,  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia;  J.  B.  McFerrin, 
C.  W.  INIiller,  W.  Mooney,  R.  P.  Ransom,  and  W.  Burr,  in  the 
Army  of  Tennessee ;  J.  S.  Lane  and  E.  B.  Duncan,  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Florida ;  J.  J.  Wheat  and  H.  J.  Harris,  in  Mississippi ; 
W.  C.  Johnson,  to  General  S.  D.  Lee's  Corps,  North  Mississippi ; 
J.  J.  Hutchinson,  to  the  army  about  Mobile ;  and  beyond  the 


302  APPENDIX. 

Mississippi  River,  J.  C.  Keener  to  Louisiana  troops,  and  B.  T. 
Kavanaugli  and  E.  M.  Marvin  to  Missouri  and  Arkansas  troops. 

Dr.  J.  William  Jones,  in  "Christ  in  the  Camp,"  very  truly  said 
of  the  work  of  the  chaplains  and  missionaries  in  the  army:  "One 
of  the  most  potent  factors  in  the  grand  success  of  our  work  was 
the  union  of  hearts  and  hands  of  all  Christian  workers.  Dr. 
Hoge  wrote  of  the  great  revival  in  Barksdale's  Brigade  in  18G3. 
AVe  had  a  Presbyterian  sermon  introduced  by  Baptist  services 
under  the  direction  of  a  Methodist  chaplain  in  an  Episcopal 
church.  That  was  but  a  type  of  what  was  usual  all  through  the 
army.  We  found  common  ground  upon  which  we  could  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder  and  labor  for  the  cause  of  our  common 
Master.  And  I  ain  glad  to  believe  that  the  fraternal  spirit  which 
has  so  largely  prevailed  for  some  years  among  evangelical  Chris- 
tians at  the  South  is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  the  habit  of  co- 
operation which  so  generally  prevailed  during  the  war." 

I  indorse  all  my  good  Baptist  brother  wrote  anent  the  cath- 
olic spirit  which  prevailed  among  the  preachers  of  different  de- 
nominations in  the  army.  We  preached  a  full,  free  salvation  to 
all,  and  when  soldiers  of  the  cross  desired  to  enter  the  army  of 
the  Lord  we  gave  them  the  privilege  of  selecting  their  own  com- 
pany and  choosing  the  division  in  which  they  could  best  battle 
for  God  against  Satan,  Their  names  were  taken  and  ministers 
of  their  choice  were  invited  to  baptize  them,  and  there  was  no 
controversy  on  the  mode  of  baptism,  or  proselyting,  and  all  who 
repented  and  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  were  obe- 
dient to  his  will  as  they  understood  his  word,  were  recognized 
as  Christians  in  the  army. 

If  nothing  else  was  gained  by  the  war,  the  broad,  strong  bond 
of  Christian  charity,  which  binds  the  people  of  God  closer  to- 
gether now  than  in  other  years,  and  manifests  more  of  the  spirit 
of  our  Lord  than  hitherto,  is  to  me  the  best  evidence  that  great 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  ARMY.  303 

good  grew  out  of  what  seemed  a  great  evil.  During  the  thirty- 
five  years  of  my  ministry  I  regard  the  four  years  of  my  army 
life  as  the  most  useful.  I  have  found  no  other  field  so  fertile 
and  fruitfiil  for  soul-saving,  no  other  people  more  devout  and 
spiritual  than  Christian  soldiers,  and  no  ministers  more  zealous 
and  faithful  than  chaplains,  whether  Baptists,  Presbyterians, 
Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Disciples,  or  Catholics. 

S.  M.  Cherry. 
Near  Vanderbilt  Universitj',  March  10, 1890, 


THE   INSTITUTION  OF  DOMESTIC  SLAVERY 
IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES. 


In  a  work  like  this  the  real  facts  witli  regard  to  tlie  institution 
of  slavery,  and  especially  domestic  slavery  as  it  existed  in  the 
Southern  States  before  the  war,  should  have  a  place.  These 
facts  have  been  distorted  and  exaggerated  long  enough.  It  is 
due  to  the  dead  who  have  been  misunderstood  and  misrepre- 
sented, and  to  their  posterity  who  have  a  just  pride  in  their  an- 
cestry, that  the  truth  should  be  told,  if  but  briefly,  in  these  pages. 
What  are  the  facts  concerning  slavery? 

1.  Slavery  has  existed  in  all  ages  and  in  almost  all  countries. 
It  still  exists  in  Africa  (the  original  home  of  the  Southern  ne- 
groes) and  elsewhere. 

2.  Slavery  was  recognized  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
Scriptures.  The  patriarchs  were  slave-holders.  Abraham,  the 
friend  of  God  and  "  Father  of  the  Faithful,"  was  a  large  slave- 
holder. Slavery  existed  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  on  the 
earth,  and  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  but  no  word  of  condem- 
nation of  the  institution  was  ever  spoken  by  him  or  any  of  them. 
On  the  contrary,  the  Apostle  Paul  sent  a  runaway  slave  back  to 
his  master. 

3.  For  thousands  of  years  the  institution  of  slavery  was  every- 
where regarded  as  a  matter  of  course.  Every  civilized  nation  of 
the  earth  has  at  some  time  or  other  been  a  slave-holding  nation. 
"While  from  time  to  time  during  past  ages  a  solitary  voice  has 
been  raised  against  the  institution,  the  agitation  against  it  is  a 
thing  of  comparatively  modern  date. 

(304) 


SLAVERY  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES.      305 

4.  The  slave  trade  was  carried  on  by  the  European  nations  for 
many  years,  especially  by  England  and  Holliind.  The  English 
and  the  Dutch  planted  slavery  in  the  United  States,  with  some 
help  from  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese. 

5.  The  New  England  States  were  extensively  implicated  in  the 
slave  trade,  especially  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island.  The 
Southern  States  have  had  but  little  to  do  with  it  at  any  period 
of  their  history. 

6.  Slavery  once  existed  in  all  the  original  Northern  States. 
When  it  ceased  to  be  profitable  with  them  their  slaves  were 
mostly  sold  and  taken  to  the  South,  where  because  of  the  inven- 
tion of  the  cotton-gin  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  climate,  it  was 
more  remunerative.  The  title  of  the  Southern  people  to  their 
slaves  emanated  in  a  large  degree  from  the  people  of  the  North- 
ern States,  who  carried  on  the  slave  trade,  and  who  sold  to  the 
South  the  slaves  owned  by  themselves. 

7.  The  institution  of  domestic  slavery  was  recognized  and  pro- 
tected by  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  was  the  solemn  com- 
pact of  union  between  the  States  of  the  American  Union.  This 
provision  of  the  Constitution  was  flagrantly  violated  by  the 
Northern  States — those  very  States  that  afterward  went  to  war 
to  coerce  the  Southern  States  to  hold  them  to  the  observance  of 
a  compact  so  grossly  violated  by  themselves. 

8.  Steps  were  taken  by  some  of  the  older  Southern  States  look- 
ing to  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  sixty  years  ago,  but  the 
violence  of  the  enemies  of  the  institution  and  of  the  South  be- 
came so  great,  and  their  methods  so  dangerous,  that  in  self-de- 
fense the  people  of  the  Southern  States  were  compelled  to  turn 
their  attention  to  measures  for  the  protection  of  civil  society 
itself  rather  than  for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  their  slaves, 
which  they  had  tentatively  begun  to  consider. 

9.  The  slave  population  of  the  Southern  States  increased  so 

20 


306  APPENDIX. 

rapidly  that  at  1l'ii<,41i  the  number  was  ho  great,  and  tlie  institu- 
tion was  so  interwoven  into  the  social,  industrial,  and  political 
life  of  the  South,  that  emancipation  by  the  peaceful  metliods  once 
possible  seemed  to  be  an  impossibility.  Twelve  hundred  mill- 
ions of  dollars  were  invested  in  it,  and  the  whole  labor  system 
of  the  South  rested  on  it. 

10.  Under  the  influence  of  domestic  slavery  as  it  existed  in  the 
South  every  successive  generation  of  the  negroes  made  an  ad- 
A-ance  in  civilization  over  its  predecessor.  Savages  and  cannibals 
in  Africa,  here  in  the  Southern  States  they  were  humanized  and 
civilized  under  the  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  tliem.  In 
all  the  world  besides  there  could  not  be  found  an  equal  numl)er 
of  black  people  enjoying  an  equal  degree  of  physical  comfort  or 
raised  to  an  equal  degree  of  moral  development.  Slavery  re- 
deemed them  from  savagery,  and  gave  them  the  rudiments  of 
civilization  and  Christianity.  The  great  body  of  the  slaves  were 
kindly  treated,  and  they  were  a  healthy,  contented,  and  prolific 
race,  noted  for  their  muscular  development,  musical  genius,  and 
jolly  good  humor.  The  relations  existing  between  them  and 
their  owners  were  for  the  most  part  kindly.  The  material  pros- 
perity of  the  South,  the  rapid  growth  of  the  negro  population, 
the  absence  of  any  considerable  social  convulsions  or  disorders, 
furnish  the  proofs  of  the  truth  of  this  statement. 

11.  The  religious  welfare  of  the  slaves  was  not  neglected.  The 
leading  religious  denominations  of  the  South  made  provision  for 
their  religious  instruction,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them 
were  communicants  of  the  several  Churches  engaged  in  this 
service.  The  best  white  ministers  of  the  gospel  preached  to 
them  in  the  city,  town,  and  country,  and  in  many  Christian 
homes  in  the  South  the  white  and  the  black  members  of  the 
household  knelt  together  in  family  worship.  There  was  man- 
ifest an  increasing  interest  in  the  religious  welfere  of  the  slaves. 


SLAVEllY  IN  THE  SOUTHEKN  KTATES.  307 

12.  Those  who  are  now  wurking  most  succes-sfuUy  lor  tlie  pro- 
motion of  the  religious  welfare  of  the  emancipated  negroes  are 
building  upon  the  foundations  laid  during  the  days  of  slavery  in 
the  Southern  States.  The  most  of  the  reputtvble  and  reliable  re- 
ligious leaders  among  the  negroes  at  the  present  time  were  once 
slaves  and  received  their  religious  training  under  the  direction 
of  white  masters  previous  to  their  emancipation.  The  signifi- 
cance of  such  a  fact  as  this  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  by  any 
who  would  reach  a  just  conclusion  with  regard  to  this  matter. 

13.  The  question  whether  slavery  should  be  confined  within 
its  then  existing  limits,  with  the  threat  of  constant  war  upon  it 
until  it  was  destroyed,  or  whether  it  should  be  admitted  into  the 
new  Territories  of  the  Union  as  they  were  organized,  had  much 
to  do  in  intensifying  the  sectional  excitement  which  at  last  cul- 
minated in  the  long  and  bloody  war.  It  may  be  said,  therefore, 
that  the  crusade  against  slavery,  if  not  the  cause,  was  one  of  the 
occasions  of  the  war,  the  Southern  States  contending  for  a  con- 
stitutional right  which  tlie  North  had  practically  nullified  and 
which  was  being  assailed  witli  constantly  increasmg  violence. 

14.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  finally  came  in  the  guise 
of  a  war  measure,  and  was  a  sudden  change  of  the  civil  relations 
of  millions  of  people  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  human 
race.  That  this  tremendous  revolution  was  efiected  without 
bloodshed  or  social  disorder,  the  two  races  continuing  to  live 
side  by  side  in  peace,  is  a  proof  that  as  a  rule  under  slavery  the 
masters  were  kind. 

15.  Since  the  slaves  were  emancipated  they  seem  content  to 
remain  where  they  are,  preferring  to  take  their  chances  with 
their  former  masters  rather  than  to  cross  the  line  and  seek  their 
fortunes  elsewhere.  And  here,  under  the  political  domination 
and  social  influence  of  the  white  people  of  the  South,  they  are 
acquiring  property  and  education,  and  getting  ready  for  wh?'^ 


308  APPENpiX. 

ever  God  may  have  in  store  for  them  in  the  future,  which  is 
known  only  to  him. 

Tlie  foregoing  facts  will  stand  the  test  of  fair  and  thorough  in- 
vestigation, and  they  carry  tlieir  own  deductions  witli  them. 
Whatever  might  be  said  with  regard  to  the  harsher  features  and 
incidents  of  slavery  may  safely  and  i)roperly  be  left  to  tlie  many 
writers  who  have  shown  a  readiness  not  only  to  exaggerate  evils 
such  as  are  incident  to  all  huuian  institutions,  but  to  invent  what 
never  had  any  existence  save  in  the  wild  declamation  of  dema- 
gogues, the  excited  fancies  of  fanatics,  the  credulity  of  the  weak- 
minded  who  take  their  facts  at  second-hand,  and  the  malicious 
inventions  of  those  who  are  always  ready  to  take  up  a  reproach 
against  their  neighbors. 


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